And it is better than dessert in a wine bar.
The only thing is, I don't know if I can tell you just yet so let me double check first. Come back soon.
Thanks for coming over to the liver blog! Thanks for everything! You are all the best!
With love, T
This is the view of the collapsed bridge from my office, the 15th floor of the Thrivent Building in downtown Minneapolis. Facing east, the morning sun makes for a bad picture.
NPR reported that the rescue workers had conversations with the victims as they were dying. I suppose they were stuck in debris or something. It's like an avalanche; if you move one thing, then tons of concrete and steel fall onto everything including the rescuee/er. During these conversations, the people trapped in the debris asked the rescue workers to convey messages to their families. I'm sure the contents of those messages were all about fierce love.
"Fierce love" is what my VP at LWR calls her relationship with her husband. Lisa and Aaron. They are mucking through the debris of Aaron's 45 cancer procedures; chemo, surgeries, etc. She says that they are like sugar sweet to each other.
Bob called it "otherworldly." When you have one foot in this world and one foot in the next. He and I got all sugary sweet too when we believed he was dying.
I think that is why I have enjoyed so much living among international families during our time at Luther Seminary. I could very well be wrong. But I am guessing that when you are shaped by a place where basic stuff like food, security, and health care are not so easy to come by, you understand very well that you must live in fierce love with your neighbors. That you are in a perpetual "otherworldly" state. Maybe the theologians have a word for that.
In this country we can easily go for years, even decades, and believe that we can beat death. That we are invincible. That we can buy or change anything that gets in our way. Most people around the world have long ago understood the myth of that. And if you don't believe me, then listen to this: 25,000 children die everyday of preventable causes. Almost one per second. Snap your fingers. One thousand one. One thousand two. One thousand three. One plane crash full of kids per half hour. A gazillion fallen bridges crammed with school busses.
I think that my international neighbors get that much more than they will ever admit up front to me. Just a hunch. And that's why they knew what to do when Bob's liver collapsed.
And that's my explanation for Lisa and Aaron's "fierce love." When you are in that position of in between life and death something happens to you. You want to love your family. You want everyone to be OK. You want everyone else around you to be OK. When Bob's liver was out, I remember having such warm feelings towards, say, the grocery check out clerk. I just really hoped that her life was treating her well.
The fact of the matter is this -- we are all in a state of being otherworldly. We all know we are not going to live forever. The question is, what do we do with that? I say that is where faith comes in to play. Faith in both other worlds. Fiercely loving the here and now. Fiercely trusting that all is well for all eternity. And by the Grace of God, grabbing hold of our time and position to right as many wrongs as we can, including preventing all those kids from dying from things we thought were irradicated long ago. If that is not fierce love, then I don't know what is.
If you were stuck in debris between life and death, otherworldly, what would be your fierce love? It's really not an if.
I'm getting way to philosophical and really have to get to work. Wish I could edit on this essay all day. But. . .
With love, T
P.S. It feels pretty sad around here today as one of the people who died was a Thrivent employee, Sherry Engebretson. Even though I didn't know her. You just feel sad.
5:00 p.m., August 1, 2007 -- This picture taken. We took Bob's brother Tommy to the Guthrie Theater. This is the view from the Guthrie's endless bridge that juts over the Mississippi River.
6:05 p.m., one hour later, the bridge collapsed. How weird is that?
10:00 p.m., as I write this dispatch they are still attempting to make the most difficult rescues.
Take care everyone.
Love, T
If you ever went to camp you know this skit. I'm sure I've seen it or done it one or two hundred times. It's a variation of this:
Ring. Ring. (telephone)
Regular person: Hello. . .who is this? You're kidding me! This must be a prank. You're Jesus?! And you're coming to dinner? Wow! I really need to clean up good! (Hangs up phone. Frantically starts cooking and cleaning.)
Ding. Dong. (Door bell)
Person 1 at the door: Can you please help me? My car broke down. . .
Regular person: Sorry, Jesus is coming to dinner, I'm too busy to help you. (Closes door. Continues cooking and cleaning. Some people can do this with much humor. Campers love it.)
Person 2 at the door: Hello, we are collecting donations for x,y, z. . .
Regular person: Sorry, Jesus is coming to dinner, can't you see I'm busy. (Closes door. Realizes there is nothing to cook for dinner. Really starts to panic. More humor.)
Person 3 at the door: Hi, I live next door and I was wondering if I could join you for some conversation. . .
Regular person: Come back tomorrow, I'm super busy. (Closes door. All out panic.)
Quiet. Waiting.
Regular person: Where is Jesus?
Ring. Ring. (telelphone)
Regular person: Hello? Is this Jesus? Hey, I cooked and cleaned all day and you didn't show up. Where were you?
Jesus: I came to you three times and you turned me away.
*
Ok, go ahead roll your eyes; go ahead and think it's dorky. I actually think it is as profound as it gets. Just think of all the people who could be knocking at the door. I'm thinking about the kind of people Jesus hung out with -- the ones no one else liked. The ones that laws are passed against. It seems that Jesus really loved illegal people. Last Sunday in church the Old Testament lesson talked about how Abraham saw three people and somehow knew that the three people were actually God. I thought it was interesting that he could discern this. Like he could see the spiritual realm in the here and now. The way the story read, it was like he knew immediately.
*
So we saw the movie HAIRSPRAY last weekend. Me and a van load of kids. Very cute and happy. Lots of laugh out loud material. I recommend it. Amanda is now addicted to it and we are hearing her sing the songs in a loud voice daily. And nightly. How can you not love a movie that opens with "Good Morning Baltimore." And many great actors. The frustrated social studies teacher in me was glad that my kids got a high energy lesson on segregation/integration. The best scenes were when the sugary sweet main character got detention with the "negros." Great dancing. Go.
With love, T
It's birthday time.
Happy Birthday Trey! It's something when you're little brothers start turning 40. Ok, it's not quite 40 yet for Trey, but well, getting close. Here is a picture of my middle brother, Trey, in the command center of his house which he designed and built, along with his wife Amy. I still have a tour to give to you all. Coming soon.
Happy Birthday Aidan! Eight is great!!!!! Shhhhhhhhhhh, want to hear a secret? Bob and I got him this cute kid set of golf clubs. Guess who is most excited? (Answer: Bob) He'll get them tomorrow with Spiderman cupcakes. But don't say anything, and whatever you do, do NOT tell Amanda who can't keep a secret for nothing.
Finally, I would say, if you could only have one, just one source of information, I would say your best bet would be the Fresh Air radio interview show. The host, Terry Gross, is the most amazing interveiwer ever. She can get anyone to say anything. And she does it because she is able to honor the interviewee by understanding his/her material, nomatter if she may agree or not, which you can never tell anyway. Her interests are far and wide -- from pop culture, to politics, to I don't know, pop corn. For example, she's done several good pieces on the Sopranos.
Although, of course, you should never ever have just one source of information (you know, propaganda and spin). BUT if and only if you could have only one -- say you're really busy -- it should be the Fresh Air show. The podcasts are great for on the bus or walking.
Anyway, today I heard parts of these interviews:
Sekou Sundiata
A spoken word poet who died last Friday and I never even heard of him until this interview, and he is amazing. He told the story of how four friends came forward with matching kidneys to donate to him, when he needed a transplant. FOUR! They had dinners together to discuss who would be the actual donor, and then all agreed to be back up donors for eachother, should something go wrong. He spoke a poem about his kidney transplant recovery that I tried to google, but with no luck.
Victor Bout
I never heard of this guy either until today. A Russian arms dealer who arms every one, every faction, every government -- including the U.S. Dept. of Defense. Including Islamic extremists. Including all sides of almost every conflict I've ever heard of: the Congo, Angola, Bosnia, Colombia. And then his planes are used to airlift aid missions following the conflict. (Don't worry, not LWR, we usually never airlift stuff.) He is the most wanted man in the world, next to Al Kaida leaders so of course the interview was not with him actually, but with two journalists who just wrote a book about him.
Birthday pictures coming tomorrow. Cheers!
With love, T
Sorry this slide show moves so fast. I'm trying to figure out how to slow it down, with no success. T xoxoxo
