The River of Tourists

It flows through the very center of our city.
It is creatively landscaped to be lush and green.
It twists and winds in a cool oasis below the street level.
It is completely man made for the business of tourism.

The restaurants that line its banks offer our regional food.
The shops that line its banks sell our regional products.
The music that is played alone its winding way is particular to our city.
The statues and plaques alone its paths reflect our city's history.

On the streets above its quiet flow life is noisey and fast.
In the mall at one bend business bustles with customers.
On the water floating taxi barges fill the air with fumes and noise.
In the shade of the trees the pegeons coo and the ducks fish for food.

In the morning the conventioneers walk or ride the water taxi to the convention center.
At noon the tourists all gather in the restaurants and cafes for lunch.
In the afternoon the browsers and picture takers wander and stare.
At evening the bars receive their share.

All day long and every day the tourist flow on the river.
It is, after all, their river; made for them.
All night long they gather at "The Place to Eat" or "The Place to Drink."
In all seasons of the year the river of toursts flows.

It is a very unusual river, this river of ours.
No one goes fishing or swimming there.
It has no docks or marinas.
No industry or dams.

It is a river of and for tourists.
It flows more with money than water.
It is the merchants who are fishing for dollars
It is the tourist who make up the catch.

The Fellowship of the Cards

I am a participant of a particular fellowship within the church congregation I am a member of. We meet every Tuesday to write personal messages of encouragement in greeting cards we send to people with spiritual needs. Many of the recipients of these little cards, which one of our group makes using a Hallmark software package, are suffering from cancer. Some are in prison. And some are just in need of uplifting and encouraging in dealing with life.

We all struggle with trying to find the right words to say to someone who is in what could be a loosing battle with cancer. Or what to say to someone who has a disease being controlled with medication, but is always uncomfortable, and is held captive by the ailment. And then there is always the mystery of how we who are free to do as we wish can say something of encouragement to a person locked away in a prison. Especially if that person has been condemned to spend the rest of their life locked away from the world we live in.

Of course we begin our time together with prayer that we will be guided by the Holy Spirit who knows what each person needs to hear. And we focus our thoughts on making ourselves instruments in God's hand, that His will may be done for His glory. So some days we are very quiet while writing each little message. But then their are the days when the focus of the Spirit seems to be on us.

The truth is that our fellowship is as much about us ministering to each other, and being ministered to by the Holy Spirit through our fellow group members, as it is about ministering to those who receive our cards. And the ministry of this fellowship is really what draws each of us together every Tuesday. It would be a lie to say that we do it without any thought of ourselves; sacrificing two hours once a week for others. We do want those to whom we sent the cards to receive the benefit of feeling God's comforting love and peace. But we also want to commune with His Spirit. We need uplifting and encouragement as much as any. And it is by joining together to serve others for the cause of Christ that we receive blessing from Him. For Jesus said that where two or three gather in his name he is present with them. And wanting to feel the presence of Christ in our lives is the real reason we gather. In fellowship with Christ through the Holy Spirit as we serve him, we benefit from the joy he places in our hearts, and the peace he gives to our minds.

If you find yourself in need of uplifting and encouragement, form a group that serves the cause of Jesus Christ by serving others. That is a sure way of having communion with the Holy Spirit, and feeling his love, and receiving his peace.

So Close - So Far Away

You are so very close to me.
And yet you are so far away.
You are always near to my
mind and heart,
Even though you are 1500
miles away.

You are with me when I go to work,
Even though you have a totally
different job.
You are with me when I eat,
and yet I eat alone.

I have fellowship with you when I pray.
You are with me in very simple things.
I see your face in the electronic space.
I hear your voice on airwaves.

I have a closeness with you
unmatched by those in my presance.
You know my true mind,
when others only know my name.

Distance may prevent me
from looking into your eyes.
But it does not prevent me
from looking into your heart.
The distance may separate us physically,
but it does not come in between friendship.

I look forward to one day being with you.
I want to look into your smiling eyes and
feel your warm embrace.
But for now, even though you are so far away,
You are so very close to me.

On Sale

Yesterday I went to a Super Target just to look around. I was not looking for anything. I did not need anything. I just went to look. I was casually walking from department to department just looking at all the different idems. When I got to the bedding department, I noticed that all the packages of sheet sets had special little red tags that said Clearance. All of a sudden I became more interested in what I was looking at. I looked to see if there were any 600 TC sheet sets in Full size. There was a set. In a color I like. And they were marked at $29.98. It was a great sale price. A price I could not pass up. I bought those sheets. Not because I wanted them or needed them. I bought them just because they were on sale. And I just could not pass up that price.

Today a new H.E.B. Plus grocery store uponed in my neighborhood. In celebration of opening day they had many idtems on sale. In the meat department they had briskets on sale. There were several cold chests filled with briskets. Each chest had a large crowd of adults around them clamoring for the best priced brisket. They were tossing them about and grabbing at them and pushing and shoving each other like kids at a box of toys. All because the briskets were on sale.

As I made my way to the exit, I passed shopping cart after shopping card filled to overflowing. The items where all whorthwile. But I doubt any of them were being purchased purely out of need. They were all on sale. They were all marked with a price that the purchaser simplly could not pass up. The items on sale were calling to the people in the store. The items were exercising a power over all the humans in the building. The power of being on sale.

I am aware of the power of persuasion and the power of the impulse. I make a conscience effort to guard myself agains these powers. I exersice discipline and control. But every know and then, I give in. I find I cannot resist the call of "on sale."

The Mall

I went to a mall today. It was in the middle of the day during the work week, so I guess I should not have expected to find a lot of other people there. Still, it seemed so abandoned. Not only were there very few other people there, many of the units for business were vacant. I think the mall only has 50 percent occupancy of tennat space. The busiest place was Radio Shack, and that is because it has become basically a cell phone outlet for Verizon. The other busy places were the two large craft stores, Hobby Lobby and LuAnns Fabrics and Crafts.

I guess the mall is a thing of the past. A relic of the American business history. I am old so I can remember when the mall was invented. Back when the first malls opened in San Antonio they were the place to go. They were busy all day every day. They were grand centers of consumerism featuring all manner of products. Every mall had at least two books stores, two record stores, two toy stores, a pet shop, a cafeteria, and a large variety of specialty stores. Now the book stores and record stores are extinct; done in by Amazon.com. And Wal-Mart wiped out the toy stores. As for the pet stores, I guess they got done in by amimal rights groups and specialty breeders. Now the mall is a vast canvern of empty space occupied by old people walking around in circles for exercise or sitting around watching the emptiness.

I wonder if we will have malls ten years from now. The whole business model seems to have lost its viability. The space is too big and requires too much constant business to support today's energy, personel and insurances costs. The new model seems to be the Business Park or Strip Center. A few buildings either occupied by one single large business, or a small group of specialty businesses. Those places all seem to be thriving with activity all day long every day. I think they are cheaper to build and maintain, and require less business to support the associated costs.

All of the big department stores I remember from my childhood are now long gone. And now the grand gathering places called malls are fading. None of them are the wonderful places I remember from thirty years ago. Places that were always filled with excitement and discovery every season are now either gone, or erie ghosts of what once was. It is sad, but time marches on. All things have their season, and then pass away. I think the season of passing away has arrived for the mall.

The Mythopoetic Totem

One of my favorite movies is The Emerald Forest. In it the boy who is the secondary main character has an animal spirit guide which is an eagle. When the boy goes into a drug induced trance the eagle shows him places where he can find what he is looking for. The eagle can also call upon other members of the animal kingdom, such as frogs, to help the boy and his tribe.

A long time ago I knew a Native American who lived in an A-frame house he built himself out in the country. He and his wife and their son lived there without any conncetion to the grid. They had no electric or phone lines. They had well water and a septic tank. They did have a diesel powered generator they used a few hours a day. But they had no TV or radio or stereo. They also had a real teepee they lived in before they got their house built.

On evening I was invited to their home for a very special event. Their son's sixth birthday had arrived, and it was time for him to discover his totem: his animal spirit guide. The event was held in the teepee. There were twelve invited guests, and we all sat comfortably on the ground in a circle in the teepee. There was a small fire in the center of the teepee. The man was on his knees with his back to the opening and his son in front of him facing the fire and all the guests. The father explained the importance of the totem, and then asked the Great Father to make his presance know to his son and reveal his totem. Just a few moments later the fire suddenly got much more intense with a large redish orange flame shooting almost all the up to the top of the opening in the teepee. The boy's eyes grew wide and his face lit up. The crowd of guests had the same reaction. Then the father said that the Great Father had revealed that the son's totem was a lion. After that the father offered a prayer, and then we all went into the house for birthday cake.

When I was sixteen years old I became fascinated with elephants. I began to collect all things elephant. Elephant figurines; elephant candles; elephant cuff links; elephant key chains; elephant pictures. After the experience in the teepee I began to realize that the elephant was really my totem, my animal spirit guide. And not just any elephant, but a particular type of elephant. The rogue bull elephant. A large male elephant that does not hang with a herd, but travels alone. Somehow he knows when a herd needs his help and joins them for a specific task, and then returns to his solitary life. He is independent, self-reliant, bold, and can be quite intimidating if he wants to be.

Even though I never talk about it, the rogue elephant is still a good symbol for my inner spirit. Although I now have the Holy Spirit as my spirit guide, I still have a large painting hanging on the wall across from the foot of my bed depicting a large bull elephant leading a herd out of a river and a dense forrest behind them. For me, that is still the way I see myself. That bull elephant leading the herd to safety is how I like to see myself. And when the herd is safe, I return to my solitary, rogue life. That is the way I am.

Rain

When you go without rain for a couple of months, you pray for it. Then the day comes when you remember the wise old saying, "Be careful what you pray for; you just might get it." And so the rain prayed for comes, and comes, and comes. So that where one and a half inches of rain all of a sudden causes some mild flash flooding, six and a half inches of rain all of a sudden disrupts your life.

I am really a water person. I like rivers and lakes and streams and ponds. I like going to the coast to play in the Gulf of Mexico. As a kid I used to love walking barefoot in the little fast moving streams of water flowing along the curb of the street after a rain. But I am not a fan of ankle deep mub in the path I have to walk to get to work or the grocery store. And I do not like walking through ankle deep puddles of water to cross the road. And I do not like the mud that ends up coming down the hill from my neighbor's yard and covering my back patio. And why can't we have rain coats that are ankle length? Being dry from the knees up does not compensate for being soaked from the knees down.

I was really afraid that my lawn was going to die from lack of rain. And the lack of rain put restrictions on when I could use the sprinkler; times that were not convenient for me. So I really did hope it would rain. I simply had not concidered all of the possible consequences of getting what I wanted in great abundance.

Jesus said, "Ask and you shall receive." He should have added, "Just make sure to think carefully before you ask." Well, at least we have the assurance that when we ask for what we really need, God will provide for us abundantly. Praise God!