The Other 167 Hours » Uncategorized

ten things I regret

167hours — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 01:16:11 +0000

I believed the sun would rise tomorrow.
I tried to control my tongue.
I hugged my wife when I came home from work.
I tried to love God.
I cared about other peoples’ problems.
I sang along in church.
I closed my eyes in prayer.
I held it together.
I kept going.
I spent time with my kids.

Stay tuned because I think there may have been one or two regrets on that list that surprised you. I may get a chance to explain.

But… maybe not.

Guest Authors and a New Look

167hours — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:39:53 +0000

You will notice right away that I have changed the look of the blog at bit. Please give me feedback about that by commenting on this post.

I also have begun to draw in some other writers to contribute under the name “Guest Author.” Some of these will identify themselves and some would rather not. Replying to your comments for these Guest Authors becomes rather complicated because of the… well, I won’t explain it all but the point is that they will usually not be able to respond to your comments except through me (167hours) and I will facilitate that when possible. But please feel free to leave comments for them. They will be read and the rest of us would like to read what you have to say also. So comment away! Please!

-David

this path to lose

167hours — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:22:59 +0000

In my profession, I work with people making their way through the circumstances of life. They are mostly, in my experience, good people, even honorable people, and very often people I come to respect greatly for the persistent work they have done in the making of their way in life. But, they also, without exception, are hurt people.

Hurts come

from others,
from the self,
from pervasive, systematic evil, and
from sources we will never be able to name.

The hurts come

by accident,
through ignorance,
in carelessness,
out of malice,
as an artifact of growth,
from profoundly inaccurate mental images of basic things such as the self, the world, God and how He works

I am always curious to find the model a person has in their head of growth. Is it a line, a spiral, a roller coaster, a knot? Does this person even believe growth exists? or is possible? or is worth it?

Because of my foundational beliefs about the human creature, I use the word, growth, to be synonymous with “allowing God to build us and write our story.”

As I’ve said in previous posts, the best of stories have very bad scenes, even bad chapters and stories within stories.

I’m writing this post because I am thinking of the particular hurt that can come from having a profound misunderstanding of how God builds us, which is the same as a profound misunderstanding of growth.

I’ve included a story below in a sort of free verse style. It should not be read as a complete story, or even a true story. But it is a common story and one found over and over in the Psalms. Depending on our understanding of growth it can be felt as a story of disappointment, despair, injustice, or tragedy. And felt in that way, it becomes one of the common sources of deep hurt like the ones I’ve listed above. And some version of this story shows up with great frequency in my office when hurt people are ready to tell it. But it is like one of the common optical illusions you have seen where the same picture can be seen as an old woman or a young girl.

I believe what is written below to be a story of growth, a story of God building someone.

How do you see it? And… are you willing to try to see it differently?

this path to lose

Little feet. Little steps.
The first. The few.
Close. Near. Small.
No path. No need. No lost. No new.

First questions. First answers.
Important words for him.
Who? Why? How?
A path? Careless words from them.

Going. Finding. Taking. Giving.
Building. Dreaming. Longing. Choosing.
A sense of me. A range of them.
His path. more of finding, less of losing.

Gathering. Grouping. Attaching. Risking.
A thought of we. A team. A cohort.
A man leaving behind the alone, the boy.
Our path. Larger steps. Rising import.

The hard. The bad. The wrong.
Surprised. Unprepared. collecting pain.
Resolve. Faith. A tighter grasp.
A sometime path. Sometime disdain.

Spent. Fatigued. Drawn out.
A plot. A lie Their plan.
To shame. To crush.
What path? What light? What remnants of the man?

Though seeking the close, the safe, the known.
Isolation. Fear. An evil ploy.
Though calling, searching, clawing, finds
No path. Only a boy.

To reputation cling

167hours — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:08:29 +0000

Having a brother serving in the Army, a father who served in WWII, and knowing the story of others who come back, I tried in this poem to capture what little I know about battle and the aftermath. My apologies to many of you who are far more knowledgable about combat and post-combat. I suspect it may seem almost childish compared to the awfulness of the actual experience.

In writing it I was surprised to find many aspects which seem analogous to any interpersonal conflict that grows intense enough.

To Reputation Cling

an explosion for years brewing

fallout, wasteland, dying and dead

are mine and ours in the ensuing

wave from those who in the doing

brought on anguish, pain and dread.

then months of grimy hand to hand

battles over shame and guilt

where one side seeks to forge a band

among those still in hostile land

to crush a shelter newly built.

and as with all the wars we wage

the innocent and helpless ones

slip under foot and feel the rage

come to their door and rip this page

of life from family, daughters, sons.

but still we want to call it peace,

the time after the battle died

when hand to hand was made to cease

when stick and stones lay still at least

the violence all grown cold outside.

then spring will come and birds will sing

and we will make, in part, from greed

too much of an accomplished thing

too much to reputation cling

when still inside the wounds will bleed.

Morning Faith

Guest Author — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:30:31 +0000

I heard the long waves pound gently against the beach as I walked. I smelled the strong saltwater. I felt the fresh water wash my feet so that sand would not be tracked back inside.

Now, I hear the calm breathing of three children as they sleep in the living room. I listen closely and I still hear the waves pulsing. As the condensation slips away on the window overlooking the ocean I hear the “whispers” of a 11 year old boy playing a 5 year old boy in a game of “Sorry”. The coffee pot drips quietly, steadily, finally producing the smell. The smell of a new morning.

Read the complete post.

I love the ocean

Guest Author — Fri, 20 May 2011 17:55:39 +0000

An article from a guest writer:

Sometimes it’s a gentle pull, other times the force is enough to lay you flat on your face. The undertow. The pull of the ocean. Ever since I can remember the ocean has been as much of my summer as popsicles, watermelon, and long drives. I have run down the same path to the Atlantic Ocean from our family’s house in South Carolina for years.

I grin as my feet remember the ocean floor, much like a reunion of best friends. The hard sand grows a little softer, the wetness and unknown creatures greet my feet like a handshake. One that lasts only as long as needed. It serves as a mere formality; a simple avenue to the real embrace: catching a wave. It’s simple: give in to the pull, enjoy the first wave, taste the salt, feel the sticky, cool ocean, and repeat. A relationship that never gets old.

Read the complete post here.

In Search of the 167th Subscriber

167hours — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:01:08 +0000

I’ve been getting good feedback about the email subscriber option that was just added.

As a way of saying thanks for subscribing and getting your friends to subscribe, I want to send 2 free copies of the pocket-size book, The Other 167 Hours, to the person who becomes the 167th subscriber. That way you can keep one and give one to the person who told you about the blog. For privacy reasons, I won’t announce the names, but I will let you know when we hit number 167. I’ll contact the winner by the email address you provide when you subscribe.

167hours.net is just completing its first year and we are approaching 20,000 page views. Thanks again for reading and telling your friends.

New Email Subscription Tool

167hours — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:14:37 +0000

I decided to add a nifty little tool, on the side bar to the left, that lets you get email notices whenever something new is posted. Frankly, I don’t mind you stopping by as often as you like just to check for new posts, but life gets busy and if a reminder will help, then it’s just the thing.

You supply your email address and you’ll get a link sent to you announcing each new post. That’s all you’ll get from it, no SPAM or strange emails.

Or, just stop by often.

Thanks for reading!

167hours — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:32:16 +0000

Thanks to all of you, the readership of this blog continues to climb every month since we started. Down at the bottom of the main page there is a world map you can click on to see where people have been reading from around the world.

Please continue to send links and tweets to your friends. And don’t be shy about leaving comments or suggestions for topics you would like to see addressed on the blog.