More Memorial Day Thoughts

This was posted to The Christian Drama Forum by my Brother in the Lord, Karl Wagner:

Everyone,

I wanted to take a few moments during this National Moment of Remembrance (3:00 PM Eastern on Memorial Day) to just write to all of you regarding this US holiday. Although it has become the unofficial start of summer, with barbecues and picnics, a day off (for many), and the beginning of the blockbuster summer movies, let us never forget the reason we have this day.

It is a time to remember those who died in military service to this country, specifically in combat. I personally include all of those who died in the Sept 11 attacks in NYC, the Pentagon, and the plane that went down in PA.

I will not discuss the politics of war or wars. But, in this country, we enjoy a multitude of freedoms. Somebody, somewhere, paid the ultimate sacrifice for us, whether we remember it, or like it, or even care. Many of those who fought, like the African Americans, Japanese Americans, and Native Americans (and the list should continue), fought to protect the rights of many people who despised them, looked down on them, and denied them the rights the Constitution declared were due them. But those service men and women knew that they had to do what was necessary.

Hopefully, the comparison has dawned on you as you read this. If not, I will state it clearly. Many can accept that servicemen and women died to make us free, but have difficulty in accepting that Jesus died to make us free from sin and death. He paid that ultimate sacrifice for those who would deny Him, ridicule Him, even hate Him, as well as for those of us who would cherish His sacrifice.

Many of us on this forum have either served in the military, or have immediate or close family members who have done so, or are serving now. Some of us have even experienced combat, and cannot ever forget.

We used to celebrate Memorial Day with parades, attended by the aging veterans who could not help but remember their fallen comrades. Thankfully, some cities and towns still do have those parades. Saturday the World War II Memorial was dedicated, attended by thousands of WWII vets. Sadly, we are losing them at the rate of over a thousand a day, simply due to age.

I do believe that the servicemen and women who died would be the first to want us to celebrate our freedom. They would want the picnics, the Indy 500, and probably even the movies. But they would also be the first to urge us all to never forget that freedom is not free.

God be with you all.

Your servant in Christ,

Karl Wagner

Thanks Karl. That's kinda like what I wanted to say.

Change of Face

Last month, after the last performance of "The Crossing" our Easter Production, I shaved my beard off. It's been there for the vast majority of the past 25 years. Freaked Jeannie out for several weeks. Still freaks me out from time to time when I glance in the mirror. The beard had definitely gotten quite grey, so shaving it off makes me look a wee bit younger.
One drawback however, the world now has the ability to count my chins. It's also humorous that I no longer have a 5 o'clock shadow, it's more like a 5 o'clock snowstorm. Ever notice that shaving a mustache makes your lip look about four inches long?
One advantage I've noticed already is that I have a lot more flexibility in regards to what I can do with make-up on stage. I can do my Bogie impersonation much easier without a beard.

Memorial Day Thoughts

Memorial Day is a time for remembering and honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. There are but a few WWI vets remaining today. WWII and Korea vets are beginning to dwindle. Viet Nam was the first war that included the American Baby Boomer. It was a long conflict. It started while I was in grade school, and there were people my age who fought there toward the end.
My life has been fairly well insulated from wartime tragedy. There were classmates of mine from kindergarten through 3rd or 4th grade, fraternal twins, boy and girl. They moved away because their father was in the army. We got the news a year later that he had been killed in Viet Nam. This was the closest the war's casualties ever came to me.
A few years later, my uncle married a Viet Nam widow. She and her first husband, a military pilot had just adopted four orphaned siblings, when he was sent to 'Nam. He was shot down and killed over there.
Those are the only two people that I had any connection to who died in Viet Nam.

Memorial

I've been reading and watching the news about the new WWII memorial. To be honest, I was astounded that there wasn't one already. It's been an emotional experience for me to watch some of the interviews of D-day survivors. The generation of our Fathers and Grandfathers did not consider sacrifice to be something for the other guy. It was just what was done.

Anniversary

My wife, Jeannie and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary on April 30. We drove down to Astoria Oregon for the weekend. Aside from nearly eating ourselves comatose, it was a great, relaxing time. I didn't know it, but Astoria has had a few movies filmed there, including The Goonies, and Kindergarten Cop. We drove around in circles for what seemed like hours looking for the Goonies house. After all that, it was on a private driveway.
On Saturday, we drove down to Cannon Beach. I have never seen as many happy dogs in one placeas there were running on the beach that day. When I say happy, I mean Joyous, ecstatic! Tongues flopping out the sides of mouths as they jumped into the surf to retrieve tennis balls or whatever else their owners threw for them. Even walking around town every dog we saw seemed to be in a good mood. No grumpy dogs in Cannon Beach.
Just before sunset we went out to the Mouth of the Columbia River. We climbed up onto the jetty, and got took pictures. It was an awesome sight.

SNL Report

We always think we've got it figured out. We don't.
Last night's Saturday Night Life went well. Give God the Glory. The audience wasn't as large as we would like but they enjoyed it. People were ministered to through laughter and through some thought provoking sketches and music.
What we were unaware of was the real life drama going on upstairs. The maintenance man on duty heard someone yelling. He went up to check it out. There was a man who was drunk and distraught. Talking about suicide. The maintenance man recognized him as someone who had been at the church recently. He talked to him and prayed with him. He then brought him some food from SNL. Things were calmed down and the man was ministered to.
We thought the reason we were doing Saturday Night Life was to minister to our audience. We were, but also if we hadn't been doing what God called us to do on this particular night, the doors to the church would have been locked. Lord knows what would have become of the man.
We always think we do what we do for the obvious reasons, but God's ways are so much more intricate and creative than ours.

Saturday Night Life

Had our final Thursday evening rehearsal before this month's Saturday Night Life. Things are about as usual. Aaaackk! We can't be doing it this Saturday can we? Anyone who would watch us rehearse (even in our final Saturday afternoon run-through) would be absolutely amazed at how it comes together Saturday night. God is Good!

Pump 4: Now it's Ridiculous

Are you ready for this? I finally got the 74 Dodge pickup running yesterday after much putzing around with the new fuel pump. I let it run for a while in the driveway, and then headed up the hill to the grocery store. Halfway up the hill, it stalled. After much coaxing I got it started only now there is horrible noise. I pulled into a school parking lot and coasted most of the way back down the hill. I had to restart it about 3 times before limping back into the driveway.
Lifted the hood...guess what? A hole in my water pump. Aaauugghh!!
Another pump! This is four since April 11.

Insult to Injury Dept.

Last night I washed a load of laundry. Before bed I went down to move it into the dryer. The laundry was dripping wet. The spin cycle didn't work. I figured it must have a broken pump.

Good News Dept.

Following some advise from Tim, I tweaked around with the control knob and halleleujah! It is Healed!

Stay tuned for the continuing saga: As the Pump Turns

Stuff it

When I was a kid our family went on vacations every summer. Money was always tight so it was never fancy. We'd pile into the car and go for 2-3 weeks. We often camped. We traveled up and down the West Coast, and stayed at Lassen Natl Park, Mt Rainier, Crater Lake.
One year, my paternal grandmother moved to Lawton Oklahoma, and so we started driving there from central California. We'd travel on Route 66. What always impressed me, at the truck stops and curio shops were the taxidermist displays. You'd see everything from bobcats to rattlers, always imortalized into the most threatening position the taxidermist could arrange.
I was so impressed, with the work they did, that I thought it would be a cool way to make a living.
When I was around 11 years old, I saw an ad in a comic book or Boys Life for a correspondence course for learning to be a taxidermist. I could see my future...mounting the neighbors prize deer on a plaque for their den, or perhaps my uncles swordfish from the Caribbean
I must say, that my parents were quite the good sports. They went ahead and bought me the course. I was so excited, I couldn't wait for the first lesson to arrive. In no time, I'd be well on my way in the fun and lucrative field of taxidermy.
Lesson one arrived, and I wasted no time getting into it.
The first lesson was to stuff a pigeon. It had never occurred to me that a dead pigeon didn't come in the deal. No, I was required to provide my own pigeon. They said to buy one at a pet store. Of course I was given a couple of methods to choose from to kill project one.
Needless to say, my parents did not have to pay for the next lesson.

Freedomfest

For several years, Anastasis Theatre has had the honor of being associated with Freedomfest (Hopefest in earlier years)as performers and volunteers. This is a wonderful weekend of ministry in Northwest Washington. The graphic above links to their site.
I won't use this space to give you the history of the ministry or the artist lineup. You can get that at their site. I just want to draw attention to a wonderful organization who is serving the Lord with all their hearts.

Live From Kent...

It's Saturday Night Life!
If you are in the Seattle, or South King County area, you might consider a trip to Kent on May 22 for this months edition of Saturday Night Life.
Eight bucks gets you dinner and a 2 hr. show. Chef Arlen is preparing Chicken Ala King for us. Special Musical guest is Susanna Fuller.
Of Course Father Pat will be there along with all sorts of anointed bufoonery.
Drop me a line if you need directions. rjlee@anastasisproductions.org

Fuel Pump from Hell

Put in the new fuel pump on the 74 Dodge Pickup. Still won't start, and now this pump isn't even pumping. Found a broken hose back by the gas tank. Fixed it. Still no fuel coming through the new fuel pump. Wish I knew what I was doing.

Limits on "Christian" Drama?

Christian Drama, Drama Ministry, Church Drama, all these titles bring up an image in most peoples' minds. Christmas plays, Easter pageants, children with bathrobes and pasted on beards. We have learned that even though the message is sacred, the method isn't. Churches and other ministries have learned that the dramatic arts go a long way in putting the Gospel in a form that people understand and relate to.
I confess that I used to be a bit of a snob in terms of what should be considered drama ministry. I believed that it all needed a message and should lead to an altar call. I looked down my nose as I drove past the local church that was producing a secular play.
I don't remember exactly when I began to soften on that stance, but I came to realize that we can reach people in ways that a Sunday sermon can't. People who will never enter a building branded "Church" will come out for night of entertainment. The message may be subtle, or may be absent altogether. The goal of our evening of entertainment may be simply to build relationship with our community.
We perform a monthly show called Saturday Night Life. It's a night of dinner and primarily sketch comedy with music added for good measure. We don't do a traditional altar call, but we invite guests to come back and visit our church on Sunday. We have a significant number of unsaved, unchurched audience members each month. Some have started attending church as a result, and some have accepted Jesus as their Savior.

Pump me Up?

This is a rather bizarre sequence of events. Our house is below street level, so the sewage has to be pumped up to the sewer line. On Easter Sunday the pump stopped working. I had the unenviable task of removing the broken pump and installing a new one. No fun.
A week later, the water pump went out in our Toyota Tercel. Mr fixit once again. This time up to my elbows in grease and engine coolant.
Now, in my 74 Dodge Pickup, I seem to have a broken fuel pump. Enough with the pumps already!
Fortunately, I'm out of pumps.

A New Feature

Let's get this Blog on the road