Pumpkin field truths

We can all learn a lot from the Peanuts gang.

I'm not a big Halloween fan, but I decided to watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown today, because, well, why not?

Believe it or not, there are some great life lessons and truths in this short flick.

For starters, there's the poor and naive little heart of Charlie Brown. He's been tricked by Lucy too many times to count, and he just keeps falling for her antics every single time. She told him she wouldn't pull the football away right before he kicks it, and he bought it. She fed him nothing but a pie-crust promise, yet, like many of us often do, he will be fooled again, because there's a spark of hope in his precious heart that things will be different next time.

Sweet Baboos.

Then there is the adorable Sally who provides my favorite storyline by giving up her first chance to go trick-or-treating, because she let love get in the way. Rather than go fill her bag with free candy and go to Halloween parties with friends, she spends her entire evening standing in a field with Linus—her "Sweet Baboo"—waiting for something about which she really has no clue. She doesn't have faith in The Great Pumpkin, but she has faith in Linus and stands by him and defends him. When she tells him, "If you try to hold my hand, I'll slug you," we all know she is lying and really wants to hold hands with her Sweet Baboo. And, even though Sally gets frustrated with Linus, calls herself a fool and then yells at him, "You owe me restitution!" it's still obviously done in love. She's really just upset that Linus hasn't gotten to see The Great Pumpkin yet, that's all.

Finally, there is the wonderful Linus (my favorite character of them all), who reveals what it means to be a believer among non-believers. He's incredibly faithful to The Great Pumpkin and spends every Halloween night waiting in the field in hopes of catching a glimpse of the mystical figure. He waits and waits, not caring in the least what everyone says about him. People think he's crazy, but he stays dedicated to his task. That's a man grounded in his faith, and I love that even when he doesn't see The Great Pumpkin he gets upset with Charlie Brown at the end of the movie for doubting the pumpkin's existence and starts raving about how things will be different when it appears next year. Unashamed. Love it.

I think Charles M. Schultz had a pretty solid understanding of faith and love, and it's fascinating that he was able to reveal such truth through young children. Why, then, is it so hard for some adults to let these things into their lives?

I think two things are quite clear: don't ever let people tear down your faith, and don't ever give up on your Sweet Baboo.

Wrecking Gators

I had a brush with death this morning.

Well, that might be a slight exaggeration, but I'm not one to exaggerate. Ever.

Today was our district cross country meet, and a coach from one of the other schools and I were in charge of parking at the stadium and driving two of the Gators over to the park. I had to do it last year, too, so I wasn't too worried about it.

When we got to the park, we were asked to drive the course and fix all of the markers that had blown down overnight. The other coach hopped in my Gator, and off we were. It took kind of a long time, but it was also kind of fun. It's a hilly course, so the Gator got a little adventurous out there. We were almost finished with the entire course, and everything was going smoothly.

And then the backstretch happened.

There is a part of the course with about 600 meters left where the path gets really narrow between a fence and some trees. I had gone around the trees and outside of the path on one really thin part, but then it appeared I would fit through the next scape. The other coach agreed, so I stayed on the path. But, for some reason, my depth perception was a bit off this morning, and I was too far to the right. Suddenly I felt a huge impact, and the next thing I realized was that the Gator was stuck in the fence. I had crashed us. I felt a throbbing in two of my left fingers and turned to the coach in the passenger seat—the side that crashed into the fence.

I was still able to coach.

I was certain I had killed him.

I immediately turned to ask him if he was OK. Thankfully, he was fine. I looked down at my fingers, and they were already black and blue and starting to swell pretty badly. I really wanted to be a baby and cry, but my tear ducts don't work very often. I managed to back out of the fence I had just splintered but then had to pause for a second. I just sat there staring at my fingers, and the other coach asked me if I wanted him to drive the rest of the way. (I'm sure he didn't want me behind the wheel any longer.) I told him I could drive the rest of the way, and we made it back to the start/finish safely, while my fingers continued to grow in size and get darker.

Now, I'm not one to overreact to anything—EVER—but I was certain I was going to have to get my fingers amputated. My mind had already started planning how I was going to live the remainder of my life without my middle and ring fingers on my left hand. I immediately realized I would never be able to get married since I wouldn't have a ring finger.

Like I said, I never overreact.

I've never been in a car wreck, and I definitely never want to experience one. That Gator incident was certainly enough. It was a reminder that sometimes we're not as in control as we think, and what we thought was a good path to follow isn't exactly the wisest choice. Had I gone left, a certain wooden fence would be a bit prettier, I wouldn't have lost two fingers (actually, they didn't have to be removed), and I wouldn't have freaked out a poor coach who had never even ridden in a Gator before today. (Hey, life is all about experience, right?) At least I was able to back up and try again.

Good news: the second attempt was much more successful.

We all get to make decisions every day in life, and every once in a while we're going to crash and burn when we take the wrong paths. But, thankfully, sometimes we get second chances.

Thank God for grace.

Calling branch

Even the best maps can't always prepare you for where you are going.

It's always nice to have people in your life to help you walk through the rough patches. And it's even better when they can warn you about upcoming troubles. Thankfully, the people with whom I run each Sunday are those I would want with me on any sort of battlegrounds.

This past Sunday morning, it was rather foggy and still dark when we started the run, and we were in a new area to most of us. Josh had thoughtfully mapped out a course and even printed written (and laminated) directions, but there wasn't enough light out to see what any of it said. So, we were basically just trusting his words as we ran.

But, even though he had already run part of the course that morning before all of us, he didn't know every little surprise that was going to be out there waiting for us.

It won't always be clear.

It stormed on Saturday night, so there were a lot of branches and muddy puddles on various parts of the path. Because it was still so dark out, and much of the run was lined with trees, all of this was rather difficult to see. So, we didn't notice them until they were right at our feet. That's when we had to trust each other in calling out "Branch!," "Mud!," or "Puddle!" The only thing we really couldn't shout was the random animal that ran out at our feet (somehow I didn't even see it), and I think Kiran even kicked it. We still aren't certain if it was an armadillo or a possum. Disco kept referring to it as a rabbit. Regardless, it was living—at least at that point it was.

When it got a little easier to see, Josh even started picking up the random branches blocking the path as he was running so that the people behind him wouldn't even have to worry about tripping over them. Now that's a friend.

There were some points during the dark times where I was in front, and the person next to me and I really had to watch our steps. It sure was a lot easier when we had other people in front of us navigating our steps with admonitions and precedents.

Often it's good to lead in life, but there are also those moments when you need others there with you to help guide your footing. You never know when branches are going to get in your way, and you won't always have the perfect amount of light to reveal the dangers that lay in front of you. That's why it's nice to have those voices shouting out in protection mode.

Life isn't always going to have clear skies, and there are going to be storms we face. There will also be the ensuing effects of those times, where branches and puddles of mud will plague us as we run through winding and unfamiliar paths. But, what's so comforting is that God has given us those special angels with familiar voices who are there to encourage and help us along the way.

You aren't always going to know where you are or where you're going, and you certainly won't always have a clear path. But God is there to direct your steps, and sometimes He provides people to point us in the exact directions we need to go. In those moments, it's all about listening and obeying.

And even those foggy mornings won't keep you from smiling about the adventures ahead.

Free love but not free bagels

I don't care what economics might tell you—there are some things in life that are truly free.

When I was getting my blueberry bagel at Einstein's this morning, the woman behind me in line was getting pretty heated up about something, so I couldn't help but listen in on her ranting. She was complaining to the guy behind the counter that she wasn't charged for something. She kept going on and on about how upset she was that she received something for free. The nerve!

"I don't want this! I don't like getting things without paying for them! I can't accept things that are free!"

Now, I know I probably should have just stayed out of it completely, but I sometimes can't control the things that come out of my mouth. This was one of those awkward moments.

"What about love? That's free."

I'd take this freely.

She stopped her banter with the manager for a second to give me a look that I thought might actually pierce right through me. I think I even saw a little bit of fire spark.

"Excuse me?"

I just couldn't help myself.

"I mean, even J-Lo says her love don't cost a thing."

The look she was giving me started getting worse, so I just smiled and wished her a happy Monday. I can't say I was too shocked when she didn't offer me the same.

It isn't often that I hear people complaining about accepting things that don't cost them anything at all, so it got me thinking a little about how people actually do it more often than I imagined. My economics teacher in high school tried to tell me that "there's no such thing as a free lunch," and she emphasized how people actually always have to pay something whether they know it or not. Even though I didn't hit a home run on that AP test, I still argue that she's wrong.

Because she couldn't answer my Jesus question.

Jesus paid the debt for our sin, so we don't have to pay anything at all. Nothing, nada, zilch, zippo. I suppose that's the point I was hoping to get across this morning to the lady at the bagel shop, but I don't think my J-Lo reference struck the nail on the head on that one. I probably should have asked her to sit down and eat our bagels together so we could talk about it more, even though she didn't want to eat whatever was in her little bag that was mistakenly given to her. And I know she wasn't my biggest fan at the time, but it could have been fun.

Just like our soul sista Jennifer Lopez, the love of Jesus "don't cost a thing." And His love is the greatest we'll ever know.

But I think all true love is just the same: whether or not someone actually returns it, the love offered comes without cost for those receiving it. Screech freely gave his love to Lisa for years, even though she usually threw nothing but meanness back in his face; Pepé le pew continues to chase Penelope the kitty and offer his love unconditionally, despite her wanting to have nothing to do with him; and Forrest continually pursued Jenny and showed her countless acts of love, even after she broke his heart on multiple occasions.

I hope more people will let the truth set them free—even if they don't like things that don't come with costs.