Thursday, October 19
My Favorite RLP...
I love to play Disc Golf. I always have. We use to play all the time in Junior High. Of course we simply called it ‘Frisbee Golf’, and we didn’t have those fancy baskets to throw the discs in. Any trashcan, telephone pole or left rear tire of a Buick would work for us.I also love to read Gordon Atkinson’s blog: Real Live Preacher
You’ve got to give it a read…
To convince you of the quality of RLP and to tie in that Disc Golf reference I have pasted my all-time favorite RLP post…
This piece, which is also a chapter in his book, Real Live Preacher, is entitled: John the Baptist. (My apologies to all RLP fans, I felt the need to ‘bleep’ just a couple of words)
May 22, 2003 - 6:27am
I bought a blue jean priest shirt in a religious store. I'd never seen one made of denim. I don't normally wear a collar, but I AM ordained. I can wear one if I want.
I think I'll wear it to play disc golf. I'll wear it with my ratty shorts, old sneakers, and wide-brimmed hat.
And with black socks.
Here's my fantasy about what will happen on that day:
I hit the first hole and a bunch of typical GenX slackers are waiting around to tee off. My outfit stuns them into silence. I'm either a grunge priest or the most blasphemous guy they've ever seen. I like that they aren't sure which of these is true.
I speak first.
"You waitin for someone?"
"Yeah."
"Mind if I go ahead and play through?"
"Sure.”
I drop my disc bag and unzip it. They catch the flash of color and understand that I have serious plastic. All high quality. All fly-dye. You don't carry discs like this unless you know what you're doing.
I pull out a handful of paperback New Testaments and pass them around. I'm one short. I hesitate a second, then pull a beer out of my disc bag and give that to the last guy.
“Sorry dude, I'm out of bibles.”
They receive these gifts like some people receive communion – with childlike stares. It seems like something important is happening, but they aren't exactly sure what it is.
I put my hand up like a gospel singer to feel the air. The breeze is with me and slightly right, so I pull out my 170-gram Cheetah, the one with the very cool dye job. I roll my head around and work my wrist a couple of times before yankin’ that #!@%$& down the fairway, right-center. My snap is enough to turn it over a bit, so it yawns right before fading left and parking right at the base of the basket.
“Booyah.”
While I'm gathering up my stuff I can hear the silence behind me. I turn around and give em the good word.
"That's the power of prayer, my sons. The power of prayer. Now turn from your wicked-#@! ways."
I'm halfway down the fairway before they close their mouths.
I have the blue jean priest shirt.
I play the game.
I own the cool discs and the bibles.
My theology is plenty earthy.
If the good Lord will grant me a great tee shot, this thing could absolutely happen.
Mark Nelson at 11:19 PM 5comments
5 Comments
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at 12:47 AM
said... the only thing i read today that made me laugh out loud was this. does that mean i'm not having a good day, or too numb to laugh...none of the above. i just work with people and kids for 12 hours a day so not a lot of reading.
thanks for the laugh RLP!-
at 8:45 PM
said...
I laughed my #&% off!
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at 8:39 AM
said...
Frisbees = Ultimate
Discs = Golf
I owe my love of both to playing at Smoky Mountain Christian Camp. And, now, my youth group owes their love of Ultimate to that place.
:)-
at 6:31 PM
Liz Pinckert said... Hi Mark, I feel like a dork, I've been going back to your web site, that I bookmarked incorrectly, it was stuck in time, so I've been assuming you've fallen off the face of the earth, because my bookmark has been stuck at the exact date I posted, back sometime in July or August...and I can't figure out if you responded to my questions...so I have some questions, where's the church gonna be??You are launching in Feb (Yeah, can't wait!!)And I really REALLY miss my CCC friends up North, and have not been motivated to connect with my current church family. We need to connect with some likeminded people down here! Thanks, I hope you're church is nearby!Liz P.
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at 2:01 PM
Mark Nelson said...
Liz...
It's good to hear from you...sorry about the 'being stuck in time' thing...let me try to answer your questions...
-We are not certain of the exact location (we're waiting on confirmation from a proposal we submitted) be we are going to be near the Bearden area of Knoxville. Which part of town are you in?
-We are launching February 11th...103 days away!
We are actually going to Naperville this weekend (16 of us) to be commissioned at Leadership Community for this new work in Knoxville. We'll get to hang out there all weekend...We're really looking forward to it.
We'd love to connect with you all sometime...just let me know. My e-mail is markrobertnelson@gmail.com
mark