The past few days have been quietly interesting. Inside of me a gentle stirring has been taking place. They are stirrings which make me hopeful while at the same time make me timid. The stirring is more of a longing, hungering, thirsting for real, lasting intimacy with God. It is an intimacy that I have experienced often in the past, but not much in the recent past.

The hopeful side of me prays that this will be the time when I can finally put all of the crap aside and really delight in the Lord. The timid side knows that a few times, I have been close to this. The quagmire that sin led me into has proven to be a difficult grasp to loosen. A very public fall that shook every aspect of my life, wounded and bruised very sorely. It nearly killed me.

Pray that this time will be different.

Next month, I will turn 45 years old. I’ve learned much in these years. I’ve learned from a set of wonderful parents, from spending 20+ years in formal education and from a life in the church. I have also learned lessons through life experiences. Some of those lessons would have been much better learned without the painful experiences – the knowledge of good and evil is not always the preferred lesson plan.

In the past few years, I have discovered that my body does is not as physically capable as when I was young. Playing football or basketball has become more of a struggle than I ever thought it would be. In my younger days, I was very active in competitive sports. I learned the lessons of discipline, hard work and enjoying what you do. A few lessons still stand out. Since I was in a military family, I moved about and attended 3 different high schools. I had the privilege of learning from some excellent coaches. This was one of my first lessons that has lasted.

As a high school freshman, I had a football coach that took a chance on starting me as his quarterback on a team with very good players that were upper classmen. I still remember the first game we played in our first offensive possession. He sent me onto the field with the first play and gave me the responsibility of calling the rest of the plays. The first play was a handoff up the middle to a very tough fullback. He gained several yards on the play. In the huddle for the second play, I called the same play. Same result. The third play — same thing.

On the fourth play, I had a brilliant idea (or so it seemed at the time). I called a play that faked the same play we had been running. I would then take the ball toward the sideline with the option of running it myself or pitching to a very fast running back. As I pulled the ball away from the fullback to start the new option, I discovered that I had no room to run and pitched the ball to the running back. He was immediately met by several defenders that hit him at the same time the ball arrived. The defense recovered a fumble and our offense trotted off of the field.

I wasn’t happy, but had not realized fully what went wrong. That is, until I was about 5 yards away from our sideline. The head coach met me there and simply said, “You stupid freshman!”

Now don’t take that as a harsh thing. He was trying to get my attention quickly. As we talked, I realized that my play call had indeed been stupid. We were having great success and the defense gave no appearance of stopping what we were doing with the fullback. If I had continued with that call until the defense adjusted, then we would not have been stopped.

The lesson I took from this encounter was to focus on our strengths and the opponent’s weaknesses until those changed. I got too tricky and outsmarted myself. This coach taught me not to outwit myself. The basic play worked. Stick to the basics. Razzle-dazzle is only effective when the basics work, not the other way around.

So in life, it is not the slick move that matters most. The basics are still the base to success.

On September 18th, I was wed to Suzette Lynn (Suzie) in Gatlinburg, TN. Between the 2 of us, we have 5 kids and one grandson. So I welcome Suzie and her son, Michael (who is 17 and lives in West Palm Beach, FL) to the family.

We were wed at the Honeymoon Hills Wedding Chapel in the Smokey Mountains. Leah, Carlton, Bethany, Heath and Michael (Leah’s fiance) attended.

The honeymoon included a couple of nights in Gatlinburg and then stays in Orlando (yes, we spent some time with Mickey Mouse), Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. We were able to stay in some very nice resorts (it’s nice to be in the hotel business).

At Sojourn Community Church last night, a Mr. R. Dorsey was a friendly guest that offered a prayer for our church. He made reference to feeling like Simeon. Simeon was the elderly man present at the temple when Jesus was presented as a child. Simeon exclaimed that he could now depart in peace (he was ready to die). He had been promised by God that he would live until he saw the Messiah.

Mr. Dorsey had prayed for years that God would bring about a vibrant church in the Highland community of Louisville. The Highlands are one of the most postmodern communities in the country. By definition, this section of the city had been resistant to biblical Christianity.

God has worked in many ways to bring Sojourn into existance as his body in this community. While this gentleman was not able to relate culturally or find anyone close to his age (I was probably the closest), he gathered with this Christian community with joy at seeing that God had answered his prayers.

Embassy Suites Hotel – Louisville. I am the new Assistant General Manager. 

Having played around with phrases that involve my name, I have settled on Frank ‘n’ Sense as the name of these musings. This title is a play on the second gift of the Magi. I have used a similar word play in the past. For a short period, I ran a small business that placed scented air fresheners in places of business. I called that business Frank ‘n’ Scents. I also thought that if I gave financial advice (don’t hold your breath for that) it would be called Frank ‘n’ Cents.

The Miriam-Webster Online Dictionary notes that the etymology of the word frank means free. The current definition builds on that origin:

1. marked by free, forthright, and sincere expression

2. a. unmistakably evident b. clinically evident and unmistakable.

The synonyms listed are candid, open and plain.

As you are aware, another usage of the word is the shortened version of frankfurter. I hope that weiner is not what comes to your mind when you read these thoughts.

The total word play on the aromatic plant, frankincense, is meant to convey the desire for these thoughts to be a sweet smelling aroma. May this be pleasing to the senses.