Joe Montana and the Empty Wallet

Creative Writing assignment. idea taken from/inspired by:
http://soulpancake.com/activities/view/1642/money-matters.html

Write a monetized micro-story. 300 words or less. Give your story a title.

[mine comes in at over 500... oops]

Joe Montana and the Empty Wallet

It was a rainy afternoon in the fall of yesteryear. The family station wagon, yellow and rusted, was filled: mom and dad up front, older sisters one, two and three in the middle, me in the back. It was the monthly Saturday shopping trip to the discount store. All of the women of the family went in, the men stayed in the car. I was no man, though - a mere 7 or 8 - but I felt like one now sitting in my mom's front seat next to my dad, listening to news radio.

And we waited… and we waited… and waited some more. My dad said "It's what men do… wait on women!" Then he laughed. I didn't. I was impatient. My mind began to think of all the things inside that department store that i would want. I made a list in my head. My eyes grew big and my heart began to race. I knew what could make the torment of waiting be forgotten and forgiven.

Football cards. Yeah. Football… I had begun collecting trading cards a few years earlier, mostly baseball but this was a November Saturday. It was football season and I wanted football cards. I didn't want the measly single pack with 15 cards, I wanted the three pack with 51 cards, wrapped in cellophane, no doubt hanging near the check out counter, luring young boys to nag their parents to buy them.

Now all I had to do was get in the store.

My dad, enjoying the newscast wouldn't budge. I asked my dad if I could "please, please, please get a pack of football cards?"

"I don't have any money" my dad said. I didn't believe him. What kid does when a parent says that? Of course he has money. He's a dad.

I pressed him more and more… begged… pleaded… begged some more. With raised voices, we went back and forth.

Then finally, the moment of infamy arrived. Looking me square in the eye my dad firmly spoke "I don't have anything."

I asked him to show me his wallet… a no no for kids… but he did it… he opened it up… and there, inside was a crisp one dollar bill. no other bills but one. Gazing at his last dollar, I asked if I could have it and he obliged.

That rainy Saturday afternoon, at the age of 7 or 8, I took my dad's last dollar, went in to the store and walked out with a cellophane wrapped pack of 1882 Topps football cards. With a Joe Montana action shot staring at me through the clear plastic wrap, I was now in heaven.

Twenty five years later as I said my last goodbyes to my father, all I could think of was that rainy Saturday afternoon when he literally gave me all that he had, in order to bring me just a fraction of joy wrapped in cellophane. Even though my dad is no longer with me, I still have that Joe Montana card. It now serves as an everlasting reminder of how great my father really was and how a measly gift of a dollar bill can have lasting effects on one's life.

~Tim Beck
Oct 26, 2011

New Edition

Welcome Silas Andrew to the family!

stats:
8lbs 10 oz
20.5 inches

lots of hair






jen and baby Silas are doing fine!

two years ago

two years.

i'd say pretty much every day i think about it.

times spent together.
the simple moments.
his stories.
his mannerisms.

mostly, i think about questions i never asked him or what he would do in a certain situation.

i'd say that the death of a loved one (friend, family member, parent, etc.) affects people more than anything else in the world.

i hear stories or news reports of older people or celebrities who are celebrating birthdays and if they are older than 70 i think to myself "that isn't fair." my dad lived 70 full years... more than enough. he did so many things. preached Christ. lived a wholesome life... and yet i think, in some ways, that he was cheated out of a few more years.

but i know that just as life happens, death happens.


it dawned on me today... does the death of Jesus affect me as much as the death of my father?

i don't know that i've truly ever understood what Jesus' death on the cross really means. o.k. i know what it means... but i say this because i don't think about it in the same way that i think about the death of my dad... maybe it hasn't become as real as it needs to be.

i need to ponder this some more.

my life has never been and never will be the same again, since that fateful morning two years ago when a heart attack took my dad away in some hotel room in Scranton, PA.

when i stop to think about it, my life has never been and never will be the same again since that fateful afternoon some 2000 years ago when Christ willingly took the pain, punishment and death on the cross so that i may one day live.

the neat thing is that the story of Jesus and his salvation truth was presented to me by my father. for that i am grateful. eternally.

it's weird that it may have taken me two years to correlate the loss of my father to the loss of God's son. that loss means so much more than most Christians could ever imagine.

the memories live on. and everything continues to change.
such is life. what will i make of it?




*i blogged this today sitting in the same office as the picture above. same desk pad and everything. that is probably 20 years old.

Lenten 40: the impossible gift

My son Micah turned 6 years old last week. Before his birthday, he made a wish list and stuck it to the refrigerator for all to see. On the list were the usual stuff that a boy would want: a new bike, Steelers stuff, matchbox cars, a magic set, a science kit, etc. At the bottom of the wish list he put "I want to fly." I asked him about it and he asked what he would need to get for his birthday that could help him fly.

Micah has many fascinations (computers, video cameras, technology, filling notebooks with made-up stories) so I just passed this off as just another one of those. Then last night, after he had been in bed for a while, he came to the top of the stairs and was weeping almost uncontrollably. We asked him what was wrong and he said that he had been praying to God for a 'really long time' that God would make him be able to fly and it hasn't happened yet. "Why didn't i get that for my birthday?" he cried out, sitting on the steps.

I tried to explain to him that that was an impossible gift. Humans can't fly on their own, only if in an airplane or spaceship.

Man did that get me thinking. He had such desire, such passion for something that to me seems impossible, but to him, seems very possible.

In my Lenten reading plan for the day I read about the cost of Salvation and the cost of discipleship. "Salvation is free but the cost of discipleship is enormous" (R. Job - A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God; pg. 135) Many of us have a hard time even getting to what it means to be a disciple of Jesus (and the cost that comes with it) because we can not get past the 'Salvation is free' part. We spend so much time and energy trying to earn favor, from mankind and from God that we miss the pure beauty of that which is free.

Salvation is an impossible gift; sometimes impossible (so it seems) to grasp. Why would such a sacrifice be made for me... at no cost? In the human mind, such a sacrifice so that all men might be free seems impossible. For those whom have yet to grab onto that lifeline, perhaps it is impossible. But with faith like a child, with faith like my son has that someday he will be able to fly, we can believe with our whole being.

Micah has often talked about his desire to be a Policeman when he grows up. I remember when I was that age wanting with all of my heart to be a fireman. Those childhood dreams are the fuel for a creative mind. As Jen and I explained to him last nite: God has a plan for him, policeman, writer, future president of Apple Computers (his idol is Steve Jobs... no joke) or as a friend of ours suggested: Astronaut. whatever it is, it is not impossible as long as he holds truth and belief close to his heart.

If we can grab on to our Salvation, found only in Christ - the possibilities are endless. But it is our higher calling then to embrace the cost of discipleship; to offer ourselves as fully as we can; to become the ears, eyes, voice and hands of Jesus Christ to a hurting and needy world and church.

As Rueben job so eloquently has written: "The Cost of Salvation? It is completely free and without cost. The cost of discipleship? Only our whole lives. Nothing more, nothing less."

Get in on the glory.

Embrace the 'impossible'. For nothing is impossible with God. [Luke 1:37]

run forrest run

the 23rd annual Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement 2 mile and 5 mile races were held yesterday morning. Jen and i took on yet another running challenge, as did a number of young adults from our church. we ran in the 2 mile race with 882 other people. it was very crowded and the race started without any warning... some guy with a bullhorn hit the siren and we were off. the biggest challenge was weaving in and out of the masses of people... i think a couple of kids tried to take me out when we were running across the bridge. i was pushed to the outside. i felt like i was in Nascar - zig-zaging my way through, hoping not to blow a tire. after the one mile marker it thinned out. i started out running with THIS guy who finished about 20 seconds ahead of me... i think i could have ran with him the whole time - but he used to be chased by defensive lineman and linebackers back in his QB days so he's used to running fast.

i finished in 16 minutes 36 seconds... 45 seconds faster than the two mile race i ran two months ago at the YMCA. my pace was around an 8:19... when i ran my first 5k a year and a half ago - i was running a 9:35 pace. sweet, yo.

like before i ran with what Bryan might called a robotic-iPod arm band that no doubt makes one run faster. running with the Nike+ iPod system does make a race less boring, though.

we are planning on running a race in each of the next three months.

i'm pushing the 300 mile mark since i began running with Nike+ and have been a lot more consistent this spring and summer. i hope to keep it up.

my results... # 243 out of 882.

most beautiful week

i am on the tail end of a 'week off'. it was a vacation week for me, although i did not go anyplace - save the back yard. well there were a few get aways to local parks and what not. and we hit Starbucks a few times. it was a good week, despite chronic back pain that seemed to plague me most of the week.

i took the week off for a few reasons. 1: my wife was recently hired as the childrens ministry coordinator at our church - so it allowed her to get some things organized and what not while i was home with the kids. 2. our niece Harper was staying with us - as my sister was on a mission trip to Guatemala.

i read a lot - mostly from the book Growing Souls by Mark Yaconelli.
i journaled a lot. drawings and musings filled the pages.
i sat in the back yard a lot while the kids played.
i enjoyed the sun, the cool breezes and on occasion the refreshment of water - as we went swimming on three separate occasions.

it was beautiful weather all week - mid 70's... we even saw a couple of rainbows on the one evening where we were graced with rain.

we went and saw WALL-E, which was surprisingly good and we went to Tuscora Park - which was a highlight.

i am most thankful for this beautiful week.

Run Lola Run

yesterday, jen and i ran in the 3rd annual YMCA 2 mile fun run / 10 K race. right before the 2 mile race was to begin it began to rain... hard. thankfully, by the time the starting gun sounded, it was a mere drizzle. although it was only a 2 mile run - it was still something. it was the completion of a goal (much like the one i set about a year and a half ago).

there were 120+ people who ran in the 2 mile fun run... most of the fast people were running in the 10k - but i think i came in around the top 10 in the 2 miler. i ran it in 17:22... about an 8 min 40 sec pace. i was happy with my time and my pace. the first mile i ran mostly on the tail of a woman with short hair, black pants and a white sweatshirt. she helped me set a good pace. for the last 1/2 mile - it was mostly up hill. that was a tough way to finish. but right at that time i hit my power song on my iPod (i was running with the Nike+ iPod system). that song was The Catastrophe and the Cure by Explosions in the Sky. it carried me through to the finish line. there was spacing all around me - so i had a nice finish. it was almost worshipful (To God be the Glory) coming up around the bend, music playing through my earbuds, race workers cheering along the trail, coming up around the bend, seeing the finish line... inside, i couldn't help but rejoice.

the run kind of gave me the itch... i want to run some more now - so now my wife and i are thinking about signing up for some future 2 mile runs or 5k's.

it felt good to run. it felt good to accomplish a goal. i hope to carry on.

on a side note - i checked out Run Lola Run from the library.


























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Now playing: The Appleseed Cast - Signal
via FoxyTunes

one year ago

every day, i remember.