Don't Believe or Don't Care?

For some reason, I've been wanting to write about this for a while. There is an overwhelming sense in our world that the need for organized religion is overrated and that a relationship with God isn't important. Enough for the atheist community to be exploding. That last sentence is not based on research but on perception, I will say that. I do, however, believe there is a difference in the atheist that believes that there is no God whatsoever and the person that just doesn't want a relationship with him. 

An atheist, by definition, is someone who disbelieves the presence of a supreme being or beings. I think the 21st century atheist is becoming more of the mold that they believe there is a God but just chooses not to recognize Him. In fact, is it possible that the 21st century atheist doesn't know that they're an atheist yet? I think there's two categories and I'm sure someone like Bill Maher could better describe this in his own "eloquent" way but....there are those that are the true atheists and can't understand faith or a higher being and will have a scientific explanation for everything that is around us.

The other category is, I believe, more common. People who have just turned off God. They know he's there but really don't care or something happened in their past to turn them away from organized religion and the church to turn them away from God's people. I don't know what the word is for someone who has stopped believing in God's people but, whatever that term is, that's the word I would categorize them as.

My dad and other ministers have always said that the worst part of God's church is the people. We get in the way of wanting religion and God's plan to be our way. There are so many people who have given up hope that church and "THE Church" can help our world and the people hurting in it. Besides, how can we save the lost when we're too busy fighting about the petty things. 

Today's Detroit Free Press has an article titled, "I'm an atheist, so what?" The basic premise of the article is that people can be good and love without having to belong to organized religion. The writer talks about going to a strict Catholic school where people ran away from answering questions and that he was able to find everything himself. The point that hurts, to a Christian, is the point that his belief of no God has opened him up to a free mind where barriers of racism and sexism do not exist. The invitation to heaven is not as important as the feelings and care he has for others. The idea that those two previous things are seperate don't make sense to me. Because of our love and care for others and acceptance to be Christ-like to others is what will help us get to heaven. God is love and all of the things in our New Testament Christianity that we should know is that the sacrifice of sending your only son isn't an example of that love for others. 

It's not the atheist that I worry about so much. I care for them and wonder what they are missing or, at some point, will they cry out to God in their most low moment? I worry more about the ones that know what God's love is and may have had that relationship before and have decided to walk away from it because, in some way, I know that as a part of "THE Church", it very well may be our fault.

Gone Too Soon

I think over the last week God has shown us that no one is immune to completing the circle of life. It's the time that the circle gets completed that shocks us the most. We knew Farrah Fawcett's death from cancer was coming, Ed McMahon was close to 90....those we expected. It's the Michael Jacksons, Billy Mays and Steve McNair's that we may have a hard time wrapping our minds around. Jackson and Mays were both 50, both may have been accidental deaths (Jackson due to bad physician consulting on pain-killers and Mays from trauma to the head on a plane ride) and everyone can agree that it was way before their time. It's McNair's that I'm having a hard time understanding.

We're the same age. He's a bit more athletic than I, that's unmistakable. He was an established legend in Nashville and had his place in NFL history among some of the great african-american athletes and pioneers. He not only is one of the few first black NFL quarterbacks but, repeatedly over the last 24 hours, has been given credit for helping an NFL franchise get settled in Nashville after leaving a legacy in Houston, Texas. The Oilers became the Titans under his watch, the Music City Miracle occured under his watch, a respected team in the mid-South among a city that was only known for putting out country music came together under his watch. Today, a city mourns and also has questions.

The respected pioneer in a condo with a 20-year-old woman away from his wife and 4 children on a holiday weekend in another state? Granted, Nashville is partly McNair's home but, the more information we get over what happened between Thursday and Saturday, is beginning to leave a dent in that legacy. We all are guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Steve McNair should have been with his family. He should have been sharing burgers and stories and fireworks with his family. There's obviously more to the story than what we know now or may ever know. The sad part is that it may have been averted.

It's sad that, once somebody passes away, it's at that time where we really know what a person is about or what they have done. Similar to Michael Jackson, we will choose to remember the great moments, stories, pictures and memories that we have of these celebrities. They could have still been so great but, unfortunately, have gone too soon.

Time to just let it go

Sara and I went to Michigan a couple of weeks ago and caught up with family. It had been over a year since we were there for the funeral of my step-dad, Ralph. My mom has a new place, new basement (which is bigger than the one at her old house which proves my theory that Michigan really knows how to do basements and underground shelters) and is making new memories. She still has alot of her old furniture and things that are important and sentimental to her. They are the things that yard sales and e-bay can't replace. Tables with marks on them made from my sister and I when we were kids, chairs that have been reupholstered and stood the test of time from before I was born.

It was good seeing those things and making new memories as well. Michigan has always had a soft place in my heart but it is rough and getting rougher. My recollection of how great of an area Rochester is wasn't the same last week. You can tell where funding to keep things clean and repaired just isn't there. However, if there's one thing they know to do in the north, it's to survive and to make do. Some places look better than others and other things just need to be let go.

Tiger Stadium is one of those places. It is one of those childhood places that we all have and will remember forever. The younger you were, the larger in life it was. The older you got, the larger the story or the tale. This is how I remember my trips to Detroit. We really didn't have a reason to go anywhere else downtown. Detroit is not one of those cities that you go, hang out and spend a day. You go purposefully, lock your car, go to where you need to go and enjoy being there. That's why the old stadium was double-decked all the way around. You didn't have to see Detroit. What was outside was outside. Baseball, your family and friends, memories and stories....those were all inside. The blue and orange seats, the tall light towers, the dark concourses that, when you walked onto that blue steel ramp toward the field, let in the sunlight and the bright green grass of the field. For a baseball fan, it's heaven. Driving on I-75 toward the stadium, it was a large white castle with flags on top and gates all around. It was a protected fortress from the crime and racial hate of the city outside of its walls. I will live with those sounds, sights and smells forever and always hated the fact that it would never be there....

until two weeks ago. My wife, Sara, had never seen this place that I always had high praise for. Driving north on the interstate, you couldn't see it. The city was doing construction right at that spot where you would pass the stadium almost making you have to go out of your way to see what's left. What we found wasn't a ballpark at all. Only one of the light-towers was still standing and the outside of the stadium looked like it had been stripped. You could see where the crane had stopped working because there was a big gash in the side of the stadium right behind where home plate was. If you remember spending that time in that ballpark, it takes your breath away. All of the visible memories that you can point to and show were going, going and, as of that Tuesday night, were almost gone. Four days later, my uncle, his wife and little girl went with Sara and I to go see it. My uncle, being older, obviously had more memories than do and his response was the same. We were on our way to the new ballpark just down the road and realized that I was getting to that age where I like hanging onto the past and it's hard to accept the new. To see your past being tangibally removed is a tough pill to swallow.

My trips to Michigan somehow always include some kind of trip down memory lane. It's either our old house in Woodhaven or a run by Rochester College to see my first dorm or a visit to see old friends at church. Michigan is an important part of my past but I just can't see it being an important part of my future. My mom has made the changes she's needed to made and is holding onto the memories that she needs to hang onto. I hope she continues to move forward in that direction.

The Monday after Sara and I got back from Detroit, Tiger Stadium's last main piece fell to the ground. To the right, is what remains of the building that sat at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull. It is completely open now to the city and hopefully, very soon, something else productive will replace its space. The Bible tells us that the things on this earth are not meant to last forever. Memories and moments, however, always stick with us. I'm thankful for the times I had at that place but it's time to let it go. New memories can be made now when we make our trips to Michigan and I can only hope that I will hang onto those and make them as precious as my old memories are.

A day not to memorialize?

Today was tough. I never really knew how my Dad felt about Memorial Day. When I was in middle school and played with the band at the parade, my Dad was a member of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) in northern Michigan where we lived. He always seemed to march proudly even though I do remember it raining alot on Memorial Day. I also remember the hot dogs and baseball. :)

I asked my Dad if he went to any parades today and the answer gave me an idea of what my Dad really felt about past Memorial Days....and the future ones. He said he never really liked today since he got home from Vietnam. My Dad fought in the Vietnam War, his Dad in the Korean War and I'm sure I'm the only male in the Burtch family tree that hasn't fought in some form of war or battle. My disconnect to fighting for my country may be similar to my Dad's disconnect to wanting to remember that he did fight for his country. The 1960's were not kind to veterans. They may be the only generation that were truly not appreciated for sacrificing their lives for the red, white and blue. The veterans who fought in World War II are known as, "The Greatest Generation" because of what their difference did for our country. The Vietnam War only set us back and caused hate, rioting, protests, uncertainty and a mistrust for a government that thought they were doing what was right. Sound familiar?

My Dad still feels resentment toward the government because of how him and his friends were treated....the ones that came back alive. It's not exactly a feeling that makes him want to take a day off and receive thanks since the government, in Dad's words, still hasn't properly thanked them yet. Memorial Day is a day of remembrance and celebration for the freedoms that we have and I'm thankful for what I have. I do wish that we could go back in time and right that wrong....no one should be spat upon for going and doing what they are told is right.

My friend, Josh Shelton and his wife Sara, will probably not remember Memorial Day in the same way either. My thoughts and prayers are with them as they struggle to find the answer to the worst open-ended question in history. "Why?" Today, tears are shed for memories that occured recently and in the past but the hurt is the same. God comforts us with his open arms and the strength of good friends but the pain, I imagine, is sometimes too much to bear. I ask, whoever may read this and I don't know who does, that you pray for the Shelton's and all of those that are asking the question, "Why?"

A ministry of stories

Recruiting for a Christian college has always had its ups and downs but, one thing that has always been consistent, is the heart-to-heart conversations I get to have with people whose stories apparently need to be told. Earlier this week, I had two conversations that just caused me to stop and realize that my job in sales is not necessarily the product I'm selling but it's becoming a part of the life of the consumer who is making a huge step in their life.

The first conversation was with a young lady that I recruited to come to Abilene Christian out of high school back in 2002. Melinda just graduated with her master's degree earlier this month and had been in a long relationship with a guy she had dated and had let herself get really close to. The joy of completing a graduate degree was overshadowed by the heartbreak of a guy that has decided not to commit to a serious relationship with her. I've had many conversations with Melinda over the last seven years and really enjoy her heart and spirit as she's shared part of her life with my wife and I. Listening to the tears over the phone as she figured out what to do next was the hard part. Years of hard work and academic success were put to the side as I let her know that God was looking over her and taking care of her now and for the long run. I felt honored to know that I was on her list of people to confide in at such a pivotal time in her life.

The second conversation was with a lady who was wanting to take a second chance at Lipscomb. She had started school there in the mid-90's and left due to family circumstances. Her father was a Church of Christ minister on the east coast and had passed away. Felicia, the lady that I met with, never came back to Lipscomb. The opportunity to pick back up and get back on her feet academically didn't really show itself to her until recently when she moved back to Tennessee and attended a community college. Sitting in our conference room, she told me of a professor at Lipscomb that sat and prayed with her when she learned of her father's passing and how angry she was that this had to happen just as she was getting things started. Her father though had abused her physically and mentally so, when he passed away, she stepped away from her family, the church and God. She never formally thanked that professor for spending that time with her and now, after almost 12 years, she hopes to get that chance this fall and return to Lipscomb.

I've battled internally recently about where God needs me to be and where I can do the most work. Most of my day consists of academic records and keeping my two student workers, Brittany and Rebecca, busy. I get to share their lives as well as the others in my office. I get to listen to peoples history almost every day and help them decide their futures whether they are 17 or 47. I talk to people who have served in Iraq and are ready to capitalize on a free education, to parents who are excited about their children get a second chance at college even if the first one didn't work out so well and people who may have lost their jobs who are now taking advantage of something they haven't had in years....time.

I'm thankful for conversations even if I'm not the one doing most of the talking. I'm just thankful for God putting me at a place where I can see lives changing every day.

It's Like Pulling Teeth

I've had this annoying feeling lately that finally subsided on Tuesday. That "it's gonna have to happen, you might as well do it and get it over with" feeling. Hello, my name is Aaron and I had a bad molar. The thing was horrible; dying in fact. It was riddled with decay and needed to be taken out. Small pieces were slowly leaving the area and all that was left was part of a tooth trying to hang on to an infected root. It's all dental jargon, really. I'm just saying how it felt and looked.

However, next to the molar, was a wisdom tooth that really wasn't all that smart. It fit the perfect description of something that knew no direction. It wasn't growing up or down, it wasn't trying to expose itself through the gum....it was growing sideways. Directly sideways. It had the bad molar up against a wall pushing it until I had to finally make the decision that it needed to go. The sideways behavior of a tooth finally helped me overcome my sideways behavior of getting rid of it. I didn't want to make a decision about it because I knew it would be painful and who wants missing teeth anyway? It's not like it's Biblical and causing me to sin, THEREFORE, I should rid myself of it. Or is it? I'm holding on to something just to hold onto it? IT'S A TOOTH!! for crying out loud.

Today, Friday, both teeth are missing and I think, healing. To get to the comfort of being able to chew on both sides of your mouth means having to deal with temporary pain. I just finished reading Rob Bell's book, "Jesus Wants To Save Christians", and reading the book wasn't exactly like pulling teeth but it had a few throbs and pains along the way. Living sideways is a normal habit because if we commit to a direction, we have to stick to it. It feels easier to lay low. There's that feeling that I want to grow, I want to burst out and move up and be seen and then there are those times where life puts us back in our place and we're growing sideways. Bell talks about exile and freedom, mainly referring to our Old Testament heritage, and how eventually the oppressed became free and became the oppressors and finally Jesus, after we couldn't seem to do the job, had to become the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom......there is pain for the cost of being able to chew on both sides of your mouth, to be able to do the things we want and wish to do and have the opportunity to decide if we want to be FREE or do we just want to grow sideways.

Maybe, there is wisdom in the wisdom tooth after all!? There is hope for the lost...and the sideways.

What's YOUR tag say?

If you were old enough in the late 80's to know how to ankle-roll your jeans and know the difference between Debbie Gibson and Tiffany and went to a Church of Christ, then you probably just rolled your eyes and put a little smile on your face reading the title. Acappella Vocal Band's single, "What's Your Tag Say?", was a bash on all of the brand-name hype when it came to our exterior look. A certain type of jeans, shirt and shoes could literally place you in a whole different class of people. We were/are that shallow back then. Who am I kidding? We still are, but that's not why I titled this blog what I did.

My new job puts me on the road to completely new territory for me. I've literally been from one corner of Tennessee to the other and, as of next Tuesday, I will have been to all four corners. Most of the scenery is beautiful and I'm continually amazed at God's creation and how beautiful it looks here. On my way up to Northeast Tennessee, I had to take Interstate 81 north of Knoxville. On the side of the road, during the day in the middle of the week, were a group of prisoners who were cleaning up the highway. Normally, you can identify a prison worker by someone who is wearing orange gear so that they stand out and don't mix in with the grass and trees. For the first time though, I saw something besides just the orange jumpsuit.

The first prisoner was kind of seperated from the rest of the group but had a deputy or some kind of official keeping an eye on him. On the back of his shirt was a black glob of something that you couldn't make out from a distance. As you got closer, the glob became words and quickly became readable:  "I Am A Drunk Driver". There wasn't the "Hello, my name is Bob and I'm a drunk driver" or "I'm sorry for my mistake but I'm a drunk driver." Just five words...the identifier (I) followed by the adjective (drunk) and then the noun (driver). I'm not sure which word has the bigger impact. Drunk? Driver? I?

Every person that drove by I-81 on that day saw this man and his other orange jumpsuit mates. They all had the same shirts with the same labels and they were all drunk drivers. It was fitting that they were there to clean up garbage on the side of the road. Perhaps, there may have been some empty beer cans or bottles. The irony is that the bottles would have been their own. It's easy to judge these men and their unwillingness to use common sense and listen to the message that we've been hearing for years to not drink and drive. The moment you pass judgement, though, God immediately decides to bring some irony of his own and ask what YOUR orange jumpsuit says. They've been tagged as drunk drivers and there's no need to know their names or why they did it or maybe they were coming back from a wedding and, for the first time in their life, they had one too many. They've just been tagged...drunk driver.

My tag is Aaron. I'm a sinner. I've made poor decisions. I'm sure I've done more things to hurt God than help and I try to pray for his forgiveness and mercy every day. I don't have to wear my tag for everyone to see like those prisoners did but God knows what our tag says. He also has the power to take our orange jumpsuits, put some cleansing bleach on them and make them white as snow. The hard part is remembering that God forgives those who love him. The easy part is wondering what people see when they look at me. Are people able to read my tag? Do they see "child of God" or do they just see the latest mistake I've made? Forgiveness and mercy are awesome and make all of our tags pleasant and readable. So....what's YOUR tag say?

Top 10 Sportscasters continued...

5. JIM NANTZ-He has officially become the voice of CBS Sports replacing the greats of Pat Summerall, Lindsey Nelson, Brent Musburger, etc. He is the lead anchor for CBS's #1 NFL broadcast team, he is the lead anchor for The Master's, lead anchor for NCAA College Basketball and more. Since CBS took over being the network for the AFC side of the NFL from NBC, Nantz has had the opportunity to call some of the biggest moments in a highly competitive conference and he has had courtside seats to call memorable championship college basketball games. Nantz is slowly becoming the elite voice in sports broadcasting because of the number of different sports he covers.

4. VIN SCULLY-Remember that guy we mentioned back in Jack Buck's place? This is him. Vin Scully's golden voice has been around ever since radio and television began broadcasting sports. Scully's first monumental call may have been on the TV side of Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1955 World Series between the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers. Scully is Dodger Baseball and, througout the 80's, he was the premier voice for NBC's Saturday Baseball Game of the Week. Before his work with NBC, he covered the NFL for CBS, college basketball, numerous sports specials. He fits into that golden era where the voice telling the story just grabs you. His way with words is still unprecedented in a time where the picture is meant to tell the story.

3. HOWARD COSELL-What would Monday Night Football have been without Howard Cosell? What would watching boxing and the feats of Muhammad Ali have been without Cosell? Millions of Americans learned of the death of John Lennon from Cosell, he was a celebrity among athletes and knew what buttons to push when. He was a sportscaster that most loved to hate and knew that controversy was the best way to keep the conversation going. He molded the way we currently talk about sports way before ESPN Radio and all of the numerous local voices that have a platform. And the voice? Who doesn't try to impersonate it and know that without Cosell, sports and television would not be the same.

2. KEITH JACKSON-Cosell's partner on Monday Night Football and Monday Night Baseball in the 70's and 80's on ABC is maybe the most adored voice in sports. Keith Jackson is one of the greats and anytime you hear the phrase, "Whoa, Nelly!" you know who's on. College football, basketball, the NFL, Major League Baseball, golf, the NBA...Jackson has done it all including time for Jim McKay's Wide World of Sports and, of course, the Olympics before ABC lost the coverage to NBC. He is in the same conversation as Scully and Harwell....remarkable voices who know how to turn sports into drama and poetry. His lengthy resume and ability to cover so many different sporting events puts him in my Top 2.

1. AL MICHAELS-He is our modern voice. He is Monday Night Football, Sunday Night Football, the NBA on ABC, the voice on the Madden NFL games that doesn't annoy you so much, he's the World Series, he's "Do You Believe In Miracles?", he's "I believe we're having an earthquake". He's the response that you would give like when Green Bay's Antonio Freeman dropped a pass tumbling around except he didn't and we all said with him, "He did WHAT!?" He's calm in front of the mic and personable and real on camera. He's both coasts, he's Olympics, he's big time. At this time and in this age, he's the voice you want when it's the big game and he does it almost flawlessly. He's #1.

Top 10

I've got a couple of Top 10 lists I'm working on. For those who have known me for a really long time, you'll know that sports and sports broadcasting has been a big part of my life. Some of my fondest moments as a child can sometimes be related to moments in sports and the voices that go along with it.

Btw, if you were directed to this site from my mom's facebook page, you're more than welcome to chime in on this but the post that she really wants you to read is below this one. This one is not as in-depth and reflective even though it is to me. ESPN recently ranked the Top 50 sportscasters of all time. These gentlemen could be from newspaper, internet, TV or radio and span numerous generations and even, in some cases, family lines. The site gives you the opportunity to rank your own Top 50 and I thought I would share my Top 10.

First, the honorable mentions: Jim McKay, who in 1972 gave us the news from Munich that "they're all gone" and helped start ABC's Wide World of Sports. Dick Enberg, a Michigan man, who was a long-time voice of the NFL and college basketball and football for NBC. Harry Caray, a Bud man and a Cubs fan (Holy Cow!!) and Dick Vitale, who most Americans have a love-hate relationship with, for his over-flowing passion of college basketball.

Let's start the list and this posting will share the first half, 10-6.

10. PAT SUMMERALL. He is basically the voice of the NFL and, after getting to meet him in person a couple years go in Abilene, has become a great turnaround story toward Christianity. Today, he regrets what his life away from the microphone was like (he has published a book and numerous articles are told about his story) but his legacy will forever go on. He was the voice of the Master's and the PGA and now does some work for FOX with the NFL and college football. He will forever be linked as John Madden's announcing partner on CBS and FOX for nearly 20 years.

9. DICK STOCKTON. Hockey may be the only sport that he hasn't done play-by-play for but what he does best is basketball. In high school, watching the Detroit Pistons climb toward their two championships in the late 80's, it was Stockton who was CBS's Number 1 guy and was the voice you loved to listen to. He wasn't over the top and let the game tell the story. Stockton, who is married to one of the first female TV sportscasters, Lesley Visser, also does play-by-play for the NFL and Major League Baseball.

8. ERNIE HARWELL. In the national ranking, Harwell falls somewhere in the late 20's. He is my homer pick because of all the times when it was his voice during so many summers that would occupy my radio space. Detroit Tiger Baseball and Ernie will always be linked together. His writing, his voice, the stories that make baseball great to listen to. Harwell was part of the city of Detroit's recovery in 1968 after the race riots in '67, he helped people in Michigan try and forget about the economic struggles in the early to mid 80's and he was there when the lights went out for the final time at Tiger Stadium in 1999. He is a gentleman in all aspects and highly respected by athletes and his peers, young and old.

7. JOHN MADDEN. Fun to impersonate, fun to listen to and who doesn't own his video game? The stories of John Madden stem back to his first Super Bowl broadcast in 1982, Super Bowl XVI with the man listed at Number 10, Pat Summerall. At the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan, Summerall and Madden were doing their pre-game analysis live. As the camera tightened on Madden while he was making his final comments before kick-off, Summerall was off-camera looking for his headset. The story goes that Summerall was frantic because he couldn't find it and it would have been nearly impossible to announce the game with a stick microphone. Summerall found the cord to the headset and begin to trace where the headset was. Madden was sitting on it! If you find the broadcast, you'll see toward the end of his comments, Madden's body begins to fidget and move around a bit....that's Summerall trying to get his headset out from Madden's behind! Madden is football and he represents the NFL with pride. He is getting old quick but his love for the game and the fun he has broadcasting is still evident. BOOM!!

6. JACK BUCK. The father of FOX Sports' multi-tasking, do everything announcer, Joe Buck was the voice of the St. Louis Cardinals' baseball team for ages. When NBC lost their contract for the MLB Game of the Week to CBS, Jack Buck was the man they turned to. Buck was one for the ages who also did NFL coverage for CBS. Buck is known for three great moments in sports history: 1)He was doing CBS Radio for the 1982 NFC Championship game between the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys. His call of Joe Montana's pass to Dwight Clark in the back of the end zone eventually giving the Niners the Super Bowl berth is more heard than the actual TV broadcast. That broadcaster will come up later in the list. 2) 1988 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland A's. Again, on CBS Radio, it's his call of Kirk Gibson's pinch-hit game-winning home run off of Dennis Eckersley in Game 1 at Los Angeles is one of the most-quoted sports phrases in history. Doing the TV broadcast for NBC? The same guy who was doing TV for CBS in the '82 NFC Championship game. Buck outshadowed the guy twice but who can go against, "I don't believe what I just saw!!" 3) 1991 World Series between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves. The Braves led the series 3-2 and, at Minnesota, the Twins were up against the wall. Kirby Puckett made a great catch in the top of the 9th to set up his at-bat in the bottom of the 9th. With one swing of the bat, Puckett saved the series and sent it to a Game 7. Buck's call of Puckett's HR is another great moment. Instead of your normal, "Long drive, way back, it's gonna be a home run" call, Buck only stated the obvious: "And we'll see you...tomorrow night!" Jack Buck died, if memory serves, in 2002 and helped the nation heal when baseball came back after 9/11 in 2001. He is one of the greatest...but not in my Top 5.

You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello

There was an evident extra hop in his step on Tuesday. Eight years ago, he had a gleam in his eye that would change the world and right the wrongs of the previous boss. He would bring morality and respect back to the chain of command. Little did he know that his dreams, goals and agenda would all come falling down in less than nine months. It fell into a piling heap of metal and ash on a warm September morning in New York City. Quickly, he had to adapt. Quickly, he had to steer a country that had no experience in this kind of recovery. Two twin towers, two different warsites, major hurricanes that tore apart American cities and a self-destructive economy later, you could see the wear and tear in his eyes. It can be debated that these last eight years were the toughest that any leader would have to go through. He went through the formailities of the passing of the baton like almost every other leader before him did, and after it was over with wife by his side, he stepped up on to a helicopter that would take him away. Like a child going home after a long week at camp that knew he was going to sleep in his bed for the first time in a long time, he seemed at ease knowing that his job was done. The country, according to the approval ratings, had turned its back on him in these final months. As his helicopter soared over the city one last time, he may have said, "Goodbye" in his Texas drawl or, at least he may have uttered, "Good riddance." He knows that the person who is now receiving the baton has a large challenge for him.

You would think that he has this feeling that he's come in to take care of the old mess. There are so many pieces to the puzzle that have to be put back together again. For the moment, issues of gay rights, abortion and those things that have been debated for so many years are being set to the side. Jobs are being lost, major American companies are sinking, millions of dollars are being thrown around by professional athletes and organizations while a very large percentage of the country struggles to pay the electric bill. Those are todays issues and on Tuesday, he looked surprisingly calm. His focus was there as if he had been pre-warned about all this; like someone slipped him the answers to the SAT right before the test. Yes, it's going to be a challenge and we can officially begin talking the talk. He said hello to his new group of followers. He stood there with his wife and two young children. There hasn't been this much excitement of a young hero leading our country since 1960. After all, this time the decision was definite. There was no questioning the popular vote, no hanging chads and no last second party bashing. As he stood to address the nation, he saw close to 2 million faces there waiting to cheer him on and support him. No other leader had seen that kind of response on his first day on the job. His head held high hoping that the next eight years would be different than the last.

This is a tale of two men. George Bush said goodbye and Barack Obama said hello on Tuesday. They shared the same stage for only a little while and exchanged handshakes and hugs before George and Laura, now private American citizens, made their way back home to Texas. If only we could go back to January of 2001 and let him know what was ahead. That's the great thing about life and leadership. It gives you opportunities and it also takes away. Time will tell if the American people are as excited in January 2013 as they are now. We will continue to move on and, as always, pray.