Dead Broke and Shot through the Heart

step by step

heart to heart

left right left

we all fall down

like toy soldiers

I couldn't breathe. I clutched my stomach. Bent over and put both hands on my hips. But got not enough oxygen that way so stretched up on my toes reaching for air. I thought I was going to throw up. Wanted to collapse. Couldn't do that. It was forbidden. We had to run one more drill. Coach McGinnis screaming something at me, at all of us. So we lined up and started to run.

Licking my fingers for all the sweet taste of orange I could get, sitting in a reflective moment, sitting in the locker room after practice, some boys naked and others in various stages of dressed, I thanked GOD I had survived another basketball practice! Welcome to the Morton High School basketball team in 1978. No wonder we won a state championship. We were physically, emotionally and mentally as tough as Japanese kamikazes. Well, okay, maybe not that tough but you get the picture.

insert photo of 1978 

Morton basketball team

Fast forward 37 years and here I sit typing words onto a TV screen. There have been highs and lows. Ups and downs. Times I wanted to quit. Days I begged for mercy from the universe. Nights I couldn't sleep with worry. Days of facing criticism from thousands. You don't know what the hell you are doing! Hatred from hundreds. How dare you play games with my money! Through the trials and tribulations of life, the truth of Tigger remains.

Perseverance is the key to opening Door #3. Behind that door are the riches of the ages. Wisdom. Knowledge. Truth. The Japanese honor perseverance with an art form called kintsugi. Kintsugi (“golden mend”) is the Japanese art of mending broken pottery using lacquer resin laced with gold or silver.

Beyond repairing a broken object, the truth is that flawed but repaired objects are more beautiful and have greater value for their experience. The same is true for people like you and me. Our broken and mended parts make us more attractive. Where are your broken parts? How could you perform kintsugi on them? Maybe you can't. Is there someone else or some other FORCE that can? How could you contact that force and get that healing?

Purple Haze byTommy Emmanuel

Here Tommy Emmanuel plays Purple Haze
on somebody's back porch.
I saw him live on stage at University of Houston
and it was a memorable experience.
He's a one man show as you may see here.