In Love Christ Shed His Tears

Yesterday was a good day. Yesterday, I got to see a hymn I had written in print for the first time in the Winter 2014 issue of Lutheran Forum. (The hymn text is included as the end of this post if you have limited time and need/want to skip my ramblings on my hymnwriting journey to this point)

RichieWriMo hymnwriting committment post

I know what you're probably thinking: What's RichieWriMo?

RichieWriMo is my take on NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

I have a number of friends--you know who you are--do this challenge of writing a 50,000 word novel draft entirely in November. Some of my friends have successfully completed this multiple times.

I, however, am not going to write a 50,000 word novel. I am going to use this as an opportunity to write hymn texts.  Over half of my hymn texts finished to date have been finished in my previous two November RichieWriMo campaigns, so this will keep the tradition going into its third year. Like last year, I'm setting my goal at 5 finished hymn texts. I wrote 5 the first year and failed to reach my goal of matching it last year, but 5 is a good number. I should be able to do 5......yes.

This blog entry may be a mistake because it creates some accountability and invites your ridicule if I slack off. So, please take advantage of this potential opportunity to ridicule my laziness and help motivate me to write some hymns!

Let them eat Cheesecake [Factory]

This post isn't really about tennis necessarily, but this has been a good week to be a tennis fan. The WTA Finals--an invitation tournament featuring the top 8 players from the year--is this week, and many of the matches have been fantastic!

Anyway, this post is about Agnieszka Radwańska, who lost today in the semifinals. She usually wears a visor while she plays, and her visor says The Cheesecake Factory on the side. That's right, a Polish professional tennis player is sponsored by an American chain restaurant that had never sponsored an athlete and is known for, along with cheesecake, massive portions and calorie counts.

It is an unlikely pairing. Another illustration of its unlikeliness: I saw Polish tennis fans react to the announcement by expressing surprise that The Cheesecake Factory was a real chain and not something invented for The Big Bang Theory.

How did this pairing happen? Radwańska likes cheesecake, is a frequent eater at The Cheesecake Factory during tournaments in the United States, had already recommended it to other tennis players, and had freely promoted The Cheesecake Factory on social media for a long period of time. Even though some criticize her for eating there, she made her own decision that she liked the restaurant. And the sponsorship deal dictates very little she has to do in addition to what she was already doing: she has to put the name on her visor and do a small number of promotional events during the year.

So many athletes and celebrities make decisions on sponsorships based  only on money, even if they really don't care about the product they are endorsing. But I appreciate sponsorship deals like this where there is a real endorsement. Radwańska doesn't make the most money from endorsements, but she can say she was respected enough by the Cheesecake Factory that they decided to give her their first endorsement deal and pay her to do what she was already doing....which is eat cheesecake. That's a good deal.

214 Days

Way back on Ash Wednesday, I wrote 42 words of a new hymn text idea I had. These 42 words formed one complete stanza and half of another stanza. Then a combination of lack of insight and busyness kept me from writing more.

Until yesterday.

Walking to choir practice

Parallel to the river of water
the sidewalk proceeds
from my door, pointing
my feet directly toward my aim.
But seventy paces are turned aside
by the black river
with speeding rapids driving past
in a swift stream of unfordable Fords
whose chattering wheels rage
a rushing gush of hurried hum.

Craft share

Once a month
we would fill the shoebox
with scissors.

Where these scissors went
the rest of the time
is an enduring mystery.
Somehow, they'd escape
leaving a pair of sentries
volunteering to be left alone,
and we'd hunt them again.

Ten $5 gift cards

I was very hungry and tired. It was last Saturday night, and I had just arrived home from the one-day Confessing Christ in a Contrary Culture Conference at Our Shepherd Lutheran Church in Avon, Indiana. The provided lunch was wonderful...if you could eat dairy. They had lasagna and a huge dessert table, but my only lunch option was to throw together a tiny salad, a few apple slices, and three pieces of bread. At least I could eat something.

Consequently, I wasn't surprised to be very hungry when my carpool arrived home late because we were stuck on the highway for an hour due to a motorcycle accident. I wasn't feeling the best and worried about potentially getting sick (which turned out to be an extremely legitimate worry as I've been sick from Sunday through now). There weren't really leftovers, and I didn't feel like waiting for something to cook, so I drove over to McDonald's to save time and get a quick meal.

This is where it became hilarious.