The year of the underdog...Go TRIBE!

Underdog is back! No I don't mean the ill-advised movie about the cartoon wonderpup of the 60's...let's face it...no Wally Cox...no Underdog. Nope the BASEBALL underdog...

Those of you who know me understood that it was just a matter of time before I posted concerning my beloved Cleveland Indians winning the AL Central division pennant and heading to the playoffs for the first time since 2001. Those of you who are not baseball fans (cover your ears, Mildred...they don't really mean it!) don't get why we horsehide enthusiasts live for this time of the year...and I guess on some levels I get it too...While I watch the Grammys (until the Daylights and Dave Madden are nominated...then that changes) and the Oscars, I don't get fired up over them like a lot of people do. I'll watch a few World Cup matches, or NBA and NFL games...but October is the time of the year I live for, whether the Indians are involved or not. The Cleveland Indians are considered a "small market team", which essentially translates to...you ain't got New York, Boston or LA money so there's no way you can compete with the big boys. We have had a few exceptions to that rule in recent years, but this year it is an incredible, almost eerie phenomenon, because while the Angels, Red Sox and Yankees are back in the playoffs to no one's surprise, the rest of the lineup are a batch of small market, young roster upstarts... including the afore-mentioned Cleveland Indians. The Tigers and the WhiteSox, the last two American league champions were supposed to dominate the Central, but it was the young feisty Indians that came out on top. In the National League the sad sack Phillies who haven't been in the playoffs in 14 years, played flawless ball down the stretch to catch the collapsing Mets and win the division on the last day of the season. The Arizona Diamondbacks, another very young ballclub who folks kept expecting to fade in the final days hung in there to win the National League West and the perennial losers, the Chicago Cubbies, outlasted another young club, the Milwaukee Brewers to take the NL Central. Perhaps the best story of the season is the babyfaced Colorado Rockies with only one post season appearance in their history came from nowhere (they only lost one game in the last two weeks of the season) to tie the San Diego Padres for the wildcard spot on the last day of the season and will play a one-game face-off for the right to enter the playoffs.

Underdogs...we love them...maybe because we all consider ourselves small-market underdogs on some level. Maybe because we all like to see the big boys take it on the chin every now and then. Maybe long odds and great courage define for us what is good and noble in the human spirit...I'm not sure, but I do know every successful sports movie in the last 50 years has this element at its core...someone, some team, some city, some coach does the unthinkable with the unlikeliest of resources and we cheer...whether it is Rocky Balboa hanging in there for 15 rounds against Apollo Creed or the '84 US Olympic Hockey Team stunning the invincible Russians, or Benny "The Jet" Rodriguiz besting The Beast in "The Sandlot", we all know the storyline and yet we are compelled to watch and hope and rejoice when the unlikely victory comes.

In any other year I would love to see the Cubs shake off their century long frustration and win another World Series...The DBacks already have a World Championship and the Angels, BoSox (sorry Milton and Christy) and Pinstripers (sorry Calla and Ariele) are the evil empire so I can't pull for them... I might even pull for the Phillies (Charlie Manuel used to manage the Tribe several years ago) and it would be very tempting to cheer on those spunky young Rockies should they win their way in...but I can't do it. I have to be loyal to my Indians. I have been a Cleveland Indians fan since the late 1950's (yup...I really am that old) when all of us kids on our own sandlot picked our favorite team...and I picked the Tribe. They were not very good back then...actually they were one of the worst teams in baseball up until the late nineties when they managed to make it to the World Series twice ...losing both times. But...through thick and thin...lots and lots of thin...I have been a real fan...I've only been to the city of Cleveland twice in my life...both times to see Cleveland Indians games. It is true they are young, but my hope runs high and my loyalty eternal... They play the Yankees in the first round...and they were 0-fer for the season...no wins, 6 losses against the Yankees this season...but the playoffs are a new season and we'll see if it is the Tribe who dons the cape and flys off howling into the sunset with its first World Series crown since 1948...even Wally Cox would speak up for that underdog...GO TRIBE!

Pling...Pling...

dg

Marryin' Davy

I've tried to count how many weddings I've officiated over the last 37 years of having the privilege of saying "I do by the authority vested in me as a minister of the Gospel, and in accordance with the laws of this state, do pronounce you, husband and wife...", but frankly I've lost count. The first was for my sister Vickie and future brother-in-law, Alvin, some 33 or so years ago and the last was for my nephew, also a David Gentiles, and his beautiful bride Emily, last weekend. In between there have been a handful of ceremonies for couples I didn't know, but the vast majority of them were for young men and women that I knew very well who had been a part of the churches and youth ministries I was fortunate enough to have served. It, frankly, is one of the coolest things about what I have done for a living all these years, and that is saying a lot, because I have been the beneficiary for way more spectacular moments than I got to serve up...It was one of those cases where you are amazed every time you get paid that somebody actually wants to give you money for getting to hang out with kids...What could be better than that...well maybe collecting several million a year to play second base for the Cleveland Indians (who clinched the American League Central Division pennant Sunday night...but that is for another post) wouldn't be too shabby either, but aside from that, working with kids throughout these years has been an absolute blast.

But back to the marrying subject...and this is a little hard to admit...it scares the shit out of me every time I stand there. Don't get me wrong...I still love being there...and I am honored that they have asked me...but I can't help but remember that here I am... a divorced man, a failure at the very thing I'm officiating. I don't know if there is something really screwed up about that...or if it is actually really redemptive and beautiful that God could take my failure and allow me to be a part of this young couple's beauty. I sure know how to speak with candor about the difficulty of the journey they are embarking upon without sugar coating it or dismissing it...but I still have a twinge when they say..."til death do us part". Of course, the reality is that I'm a minor player anyway...I'm like a good baseball ump or basketball referee...the minute people notice you is a sure indication that you've messed up something and called the groom the wrong name, or dropped the ring, or read the wrong passage from Song of Solomon and referred to the brides "breasts like twin fawns" (yeah...it's in there...SOS 7:3). But also, because I generally know these young people so well I refuse to just monotone through a perfunctory ritual...I get to talk personally about who these young women and men are as people, and why I am so proud of them...I don't know if it means that much to them, but it sure does to me, so, I still accept when they ask me, and I still am honored and humbled.

So this weekend I stood on the monstrous stage at First Baptist Church, Euless, Texas and officiated over the vows and rings for David and Emily. They both had 11 attendants, so the processional in and out, and the getting in place on the stage was like the Texas A&M Aggie Corp Band doing their half-time show weave...it was impressive. We attempted the first-ever "unity laminating machine" ceremony. Lots of couples do a unity candle or unity sand ceremonies, but being the bold adventurous couple they are, they chose to laminate two sheets of paper with colored tissue to symbolize the joining of two colors to make a completely new one, as well as the inseperable the bond between the two sheets. And in their defense, it worked well in rehearsal...the machine ate the paper in the ceremony (of course) and we had a good laugh and I got to improvise the spiritual significance of crumpled laminating paper in the light of the will of a sovereign God...Let's just say it ended up being way funnier than it was supposed to be. Then there was a moving celebration of communion with David and Emily to the soundtrack of Billy Crockett and Milton Brasher-Cunningham's amazing song, "Here's To The Day". And there was so much more...David is a wonderful singer/songwriter musician who is on the worship staff at FBCE, and he and some of his longtime friend/band mates opened the ceremony with a two-song set of rousing rock and roll praise and worship tunes... in their wedding suits, of course. And then there was Jonathan. Jonathan is a friend of David's from his years growing up in small-town Sweeny, Texas. Jonathan also has Downs Syndrome...and there was not a prouder more supportive groomsman on this stage (that looked like a page from Bridal Magazine, albeit, a really crowded page) than Jonathan who broke up the solemn processional in (remember the weaving corp routine) by giving David knuckles and a quick hug as he passed him on his way escorting his partner to their spot on the stage. Of course, after that it was high fives, low fives, pats on the butt, kisses and more for the guys that followed...it was great. I love David...we've been about as close as an uncle and a nephew can be, and I've been as proud of his accomplishments as I have with my own girls...and again God allows me to be a part of something that is way bigger than me. I suspect I never will get this figured out...I know the feelings of shame and failure are not from God, and are more about my shadow, so I'll keep reminding myself that like Jonathan, it is much more fun giving knuckles and hugging than feeling like, well you know...

Pling...Pling...

dg

Publish Envy...

I have a bunch of friends who have books...I don't just mean they have a bookshelf at their house and they have strolled through Barnes and Noble and made an occasional purchase..I mean they have authored books...they have been "published". I had supper last Sunday night with my friend Don Piper who has authored several books, the most successful of which was a little New York Times best seller entitled "90 Minutes in Heaven", at last count it was nosing its way toward the 2 million mark in sales...who knew? The very cool pastor/friend that I work with everyday, Rick Diamond wrote a book called "Wrestling With God" that several years ago was on Border's list of top ten religious books of the year. I have a friend , Jeff Luce who had a book of Aggie (Texas A&M University) jokes published when he was a junior in high school...OK that is kinda sketchy, because it is Texas A&M (sorry, Luce) and because his parents ran a printing business...but actually it was pretty good, and had more business being printed than some other crapola I have seen bound and sitting in the sale bin at the checkout counter. I'd love to see him writing again. My friend Christy Desisto had a couple books, one a collection of her excellent devotionals appearing on the Riverbend Church website several years ago and then a collection of individual God/change stories entitled "The Bottom of the 9th" . Even my own daughter has had articles published by Relevant Magazine and The Burnside Writers Collective including co-editing a publication last year entitled "The Ankeny Briefcase". My friend, Gordon Atkinson, more widely know as the blogging sensation, Real Live Preacher, released a collection of a few of his brilliant blogposts, and it is wonderful. Then there's Donald Miller...Don has written 4 books with a 5th due out in February. The one that is a New York Times bestseller and has him speaking all over the country is entitled "Blue Like Jazz". Donald was here in Austin last night and took the time to do a couple book readings from the new work on "Story" at our little faith community called Journey on his way to speak at a huge conference in Dallas this weekend. It was a delightful evening and he even talked a little about the screenplay just completed that is making a feature length film our of "Blue Like Jazz" and Donald's life...again...who knew?

When I am honest...I have a little publish envy...and while I know that these are all remarkably talented folks who have worked hard and deserve every bit of accolade coming their way, I have a tendency to look at my life and wonder if I have been hiding my light under a bushel...or my reading lamp under the bedspread...so to speak. I wonder if I have anything to say that is worthy of a publisher scratching his chin hair, raising his eyebrow, smiling and saying..."we think you should sign a 3 book deal because this is sheer genius...whaddya say?". Then I think about some other friends who do not have book deals or publishing contracts who are some of the finest writers I know...Milton Brasher Cunningham writes a blog entitled "Don't Eat Alone" that is always movingly insightful...He also has been writing a Lenten Journal for the last several years that has become one of the things about the Lenten season that I look forward to the most as I see those preparatory days through his eyes and experiences. My friend Sarah Bickle is a bright, funny, insightful writer and minister, who has been walking with her husband Scott alongside their beautiful two year old son Thomas as he battles cancer. My friend JJ Peterson is one of the funniest, soulfully connected folks I know, who is a former youth minister, stand-up/improv comedian, aspiring actor and filmmaker who also has a blog to chronicle his uncommon perceptive observations of life...and there are many many more...and we haven't even talked about the guys and gals who are songwriters and poets.

So... what is it that separates the published from the non? Is it luck...it is divine appointment...is it who-you-know connections, is it being in the right place at the right time...is it strong-willing your way to publication, or pain-the-ass-ing your way to the top? I really don't know the answer...but what I did come to realize as I meandered through this post is that I, Lil Davy, have to be unequivicably the most fortunate guy in the world because I get to share the privilege of having these remarkable people in my life...and really, how good is that!


So... what if I wrote a sizzling tell-all book revealing the deep, dark secrets I know of all these authors from down through the years? Let's bring the Weekly World News back to the checkout stand racks where it belongs...throw in a cover story about an alien mating with Britney Spears and then Britney giving birth to the most unfortunate/cursed child on the planet...oh shucks, that's already happened...Oh well, in the meantime...keep writing my friends...you make me very, very proud.

Pling...Pling...

dg

We'll Miss You, Magical Madeline

I remember reading my first Madeline L'Engle book and being absolutely captured by it's depth, its playfulness and its incredible ability to connect the world of fantasy and intrigue with the issues of my life...and this was a children's book? It was the summer between my junior and senior years at Baylor, and I was taking several summer school classes so I could graduate a semester early in December. I remember distinctly glorying in the fact that I had the ability to take a Children's Literature class in fulfillment of my education degree requirements...I mean really...read a few picture books, a few pop-ups, throw in a teen reader or two and this would be the easiest coup of college credits since that pansy genetics course...OK, I never really took genetics...my roommate was Pre-Med and he agonized over that one, but I did have a stressful bowling class one semester...picking up those 6-10 spares can be brutal. Anyway, the reality was that Children's Literature was not the cake-walk I had planned on, in fact, it was actually fascinating work reading the Newberry and Caldecott winners down through the years...very few of which I had actually read growing up. So I was cruising along, zipping through the reading lists when I came to the assignment of Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time. I wasn't a half a page in when I realized that I was being pulled into a story in a way I had not experienced before. I would read The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings a few years later, but this journey into the fantastical and magical was new for me...and it occurred to me as I read that I never really considered this a children's book. I would read many more of her writings in the years that ensued, but A Wrinkle In Time has always been a marker for me in the way I began to look for and search out narrative...and not just in books, but in movies, in plays, in music, in poetry...and in my faith. Because for Madeline, there seemed to be a natural, powerful connection between the mystical and the practical, the ethereal and the mundane, between the sacred and the secular...so that they were often indistinguishable. With the Harry Potter madness of the last decade, many readers young and old were directed back to Madeline's works as a groundbreaking foray into the genre and conceptual structure of challenging, edifying, and episodic fantasy literature for children.

So the news of her death today at the age of 88 came with a paradoxical sadness that one of the great writers of our time would no longer be writing for us, but also with the immense gratitude that I had the opportunity for her writing to help shape who I am and how I go about writing my own story and my own magical journey...

I suspect you are sitting and telling stories to the angels tonight, Madeline L'Engle, and I know they are equally as delighted to be hearing your tales firsthand as we have been to have that privilege here on earth for the last 50 years. You finally got to experience your own passageway through the Wrinkle in Time...But you will be missed...This Pling is for you...

Pling...Pling...

dg

I don't get JT...

OK...first of all I'm stinkin' old, so while that doesn't really excuse or explain what I'm about to say, (it worked for Grandma Moses for years and she was still brilliant and talent and people actually cared what she had to paint and say) I also realize that I am the salmon swimming upstream of public sentiment, probably only to reach head of the stream and get eaten by a big bear. I'm not a Justin Timberlake fan...right now, at least...even though he is probably the hottest pop male artist in the world. Curiously...and this probably makes perfect sense for someone who is as culturally clueless as present company...I actually liked him in NSYNC...they had tight harmonies, the dancing was kinda goofy, but impressive, (especially while singing) and they had a very entertaining stage show...their appearance on SNL when "Baby Bye, Bye, Bye" was at the top of the charts is still one of my all-time favorites. I'm sure that JT's stuff would have been a big hit at the rate-a-record portion of American Bandstand back in the day, because..."it has a good beat and you can dance to it"...and there certainly is nothing wrong with that. I just can't help wishing somebody was making songs that mattered these days...like Simon and Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence", "I Am a Rock" or "Bridge Over Troubled Water". songs like The Hollies' "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother", Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", Sujan's "John Wayne Gacy", Dylan's "Blowing in the Wind", Don Henley's "Heart of the Matter", The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby", U2's "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and you have plenty you can add to that list. Now this is not to say that there are not some wonderful songwriters out there including Glen Hanspard who just burst into the public eye with the movie "Once". Bono is still writing some good things as well as Chris Martin occasionally, but it seems that the next Dylan, Simon, Lennon, or Peter Gabriel has yet to bubble to the surface...My daughters have this wonderful keen eye and ear for singer/songwriters and bands that very few people have heard of, and maybe it will come from one of those...I sure hope so...the power of music to elate, sedate, motivate and elevate is widely documented, and personally experienced by most of us. The stages at the Austin City Limits music festival here in Austin in a few weeks will be full of pretenders, but interestingly enough it will also have it's share of legitimate hopefuls and legends. And then also, maybe the Ricky and Randy Jacksons' or Dave Maddens' or Grace Pettis' or David Condos' or Jess Cates' who toil quietly and with little fanfare writing songs in their living rooms are the next musical hope to speak to us eloquently and powerfully through notes and chords and voices calling and urging us to feel deeply and love fearlessly. Who knows...it might even be JT.

Pling...Pling...

dg