Once again you are invited to join me in promoting the Sabbath by taking a break from your normal blogging. Please share an older post from your blog that is near and dear to your heart. Make sure to leave your name and the URL of your post below and share a comment if you so desire. I look forward to reading your recycled posts!

This short encounter with the police reminded me to be thankful for their watchful eyes, but I still hope my next meeting with them will not come quite so early in the morning.

Ok, so I’m not really planning on doing any roping or riding, but Texas is tomorrow’s destination. I know what many of you must be thinking,  Texas? In July? Has the man lost his mind? Here’s what I was thinking when planning the trip. It’s always good to take a break from work every now and then. It would be good to see my brother and his family. My iconography teacher is there. Austin has great food. And of course there is the heat, can’t forget the added bonus of the heat!

Texas summer or not, I am happy to have some time to slow things down before starting my new job as pastor of St. Thomas.

Stay tuned for a round of posts on the creation of a new icon this coming week!

My brother and I have recently begun to step up our efforts to archive our family history on a website we created a few years ago. When we first began to work on the family site there was an energy and momentum surrounding its newness that helped us to get quite a bit done in a short amount of time. We located boxes and boxes of pictures, gathered information on our family tree going back to great, great grandparents, transferred old super 8 videos to DVD and moved with a rapid pace to get everything electronically archived. Our goal centered on eventually being able to simply update pictures, births, weddings and other big family happenings as they occurred in real time. 

Our energy quickly waned and uploads to the website slowed to a snail’s pace. This past weekend I pulled out the several remaining boxes of family history in my possession and found a rejuvenated interest in archiving. I hope the energy will remain into the new year. There is plenty of work yet to be done. 

In honor of this massive family project I share this reflection written by my younger brother upon the discovery of the picture posted above.

I still remember when she was new. The deep polished black finish that glistened in the morning sun. That huge cushioned banana seat.

Yes, I speak of Old 43. With everything that dies something new and wonderful is born. Old 43 might be gone now, but is definitely not forgotten. The metal that once forged that of a bike may now in all possibilities be part of an “Apache Gunship”! Remember, like poof, everything has its moment in time and then for whatever reason has to move on. So I ask that whenever the thoughts and memories of old 43 have you at the brink of an emotional breakdown, consider that maybe what used to be old 43, is now reborn and fighting for the freedom of mankind bringing forth the dawning of a new era.

After six days of writing about iconography, I thought it might be fun to change the subject. Today my brother and I went outside to enter more fully into the life and culture of Austin, Texas. Blaine has immersed himself in the bicycle friendly environment of his new home and I went with him today for a nine mile ride through the city. It was a gorgeous day and we saw lots of people, including three guys on unicycles.

Keep Austin Weird!

My brother reminded me of this picture last night. His comment was, “You thought you were cool. LOL!” Whether or not I thought I was cool, it is clear from this picture that I was not. As I looked at the picture I began asking myself questions like, “Why were you wearing a red tie?” and “What were you thinking about when you chose those shoes?” I have no answers.

The picture does remind me of something Fr Hugh Tasch, OSB once told us when I was in the seminary. He said, “It is better to be humbled than to be humble.” This is certainly a humbling picture when I look back upon it and I’m sure most of us can find similar pictures of ourselves that, except for the comic value they bring, we wish were never taken. But if it weren’t for these snapshots of our past, we would miss opportunities to grow. I probably did think that I was being cool when this particular picture was taken, and if I am honest I probably still think too highly of myself. “That was an awesome homily I just delivered!” runs through my head more often than it ever should. It may very well be that the same things that made me think that the “Sears pose” (that is what we liked to call it at the time) was cool beyond belief at age 17, can apply to those things that I think are the most clever about myself today. And it may very well be that they will look as ridiculous to me twenty years from now as this picture does today. But here’s hoping I can laugh at those things just as easily as I do this photograph.