Man Pain and Getting Older

For the last 13 weeks, Cindy and I have been training for the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon on Saturday, November 14. We had originally planned to run the Cape Cod Marathon, which is tomorrow, but we decided we couldn't afford the trip. All this weekend we've been thinking of our friends on Cape. There's the Friday shirt folding, goody bag stuffing party and pizza at the Lawrence School. Then on Saturday we have Aunt Pam's waffles for breakfast, then we pick up our race packets at the expo, tour the course, have fried rice for lunch, then head back to Chris and Pam's for a relaxing evening topped off by pasta for dinner. One year we went down to Woods Hole on Saturday night for a string quartet concert. Sunday would be race day. Nothing like New England in the fall, truly a special place.

So things didn't work out that way this year. However at Chickamauga, we have a chance to do something special. Two of our church friends asked us to help them train and so we are all competing together. The date is special also. November 14 this year will be the 39th anniversary of the Marshall University plane crash. We wrote the athletic department at Marshall, and they sent us official track singlets (tank tops, in layman's terms) to wear during the race. It will be a very emotional day. We are... Marshall, to say the least. To top it all off November 14 is Cindy's late father's birthday. Talk about emotion. Wow...

The fly in the ointment for this training cycle has been my injuries. I've been dealing with tendinitis in my left foot for about two months, and a couple of weeks ago I noticed some pain in my right hip. This hip pain has slowly gotten worse, and on my last two long runs it has affected me severely. I'm usually ok for the first four or five miles, then the pain starts deep in my right groin area and slowly expands outward, until eventually it wraps all the way around to my lower back. Climbing makes it worse, I feel like I'm literally dragging my right leg up the hills. At this point I'm not sure how this will impact my performance on race day. Back on October 3rd, we joined the Chattanooga Track Club for a group training run and preview of the race course. I ran well that day, a 12 mile loop. The pace was slightly faster than race pace and I felt good afterwards and recovered well, so I know if the hip behaves I should do well.

No matter how bad the pain gets, though, I won't quit. We'll be wearing the Marshall colors and I won't give up. Limping across the line is a distinct possibility, but crossing the line is a definite. Music is perpetual, lately so is the pain.

Love to all.

Rev. Noodle, If You Please

This past weekend, I went back to Fort Mill to be be ordained as a minister by First Baptist Church of Fort Mill. According to the dictionary, the word "ordain" means to invest officially (as by the laying on of hands) with ministerial or priestly authority. Personally, I look at the ordination process and ceremony as an outward indication of an inward change, much like the symbolism displayed when a follower of Jesus is baptized by immersion. I supposed I've changed quite a bit over the last few years, and this past weekend was one of the milestone moments of life, a marker that I hope to be able to look back on and draw encouragement from until the day I am called home. Our 3 days in Fort Mill were packed with dozens of tiny blessings. With a nod to an old hymn, I'm taking time to count those blessings for my friends and loved ones who could not be present.


We left Kennesaw before dawn on Friday morning in order to beat the Atlanta traffic. Wise decision. We made it in time for breakfast with mom and dad, and for me and the girls to visit our friend Monique and get our hair cut. Friday night the Wind Ensemble and band from FBCFM had a little dinner party and they invited us to come over. We got a chance to see a lot of folks and spend some time relaxing, chatting and catching up. Saturday night was also a special time. My former bandmates from the Carolina Rhythm Band invited me to sit in with them at a dinner party engagement. We had a blast! I hadn't seen these guys in almost a year. We had fun jamming to the sounds The Drifters, Sam Cooke and The Tams, just to name a few. The guys haven't missed a beat (pun intended) since I left and I appreciated them letting me join in the fun.


Sunday morning we attended Bible study and worship at FBCFM and had lunch with the family. Mom's brothers and sisters had come from out of town (some driving several hours) to be there for the ordination. The years have scattered us all over the map, but we have remained close. It was very meaningful to have them there.


The service Sunday night began with an hour of prayer. The staff and all ordained couples were invited to come and pray with us as a couple. It was an emotional hour for us, especially when my parents came in and prayed for us. Chris and Jen Whisonant got to participate in the prayer time, along with Perry (our pastor at KFBC) and Jan Fowler. The ordination service itself began with two of my favorite hymns, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" and "Come, Thou Fount Of Every Blessing". Jeff Bedwell (FBCFM pastor) welcomed everyone and Johnny Caruso (FBCFM minister of students) read scripture and made a few remarks. We've been through a lot with Johnny over ten years of ministry. God used Johnny to help me understand my role as a worship leader and a father. I'm not surprised that he got more a little emotional as he left the podium. The emotional roller coaster continued as my father got up to give the ordination prayer. No one thought Jack Newell could say anything in 3 minutes or less, but he did! He did a great job. I'm so proud of my dad.


After a song by the band, I shared a little of my journey and then it was Benny's turn. Benny Wade is the minister of music at FBCFM. He has been a mentor to me and a friend to my family for almost 20 years. He even sang at Cindy's father's funeral 5 years ago. Benny has such an awesome sense of humor that everyone held their collective breath as he spoke. He didn't disappoint. He is truly a minister in every sense of the word. Music is merely a tool that he uses.


Jeff's ordination sermon was a challenge to me delivered in terms of a baseball diamond. For me, it was the perfect metaphor (go Red Sox!!). The batter's box is my Calling; first base is my Character, second base is my Community, third base is my Competence. Home plate brings me back to my Calling, which I will always try to keep foremost in my mind. Without the calling of God, all my efforts are self-directed and eternally worthless.

After a time of prayer, Jeff presented the ordination certificate and Perry presented the ordination Bible. Bart Nicholson, chairman of the FBCFM deacon body, gave us a gift from the church. I know it sounds weird, but that gift was an answer to prayer. Cindy and I had been saving for a new vacuum cleaner, and their gift helped us with the purchase. What a blessing!

As I reflect on the weekend, I think that I am most impacted by the fact that there were people in attendance at my ordination who have influenced every aspect of my life. There were old friends and new friends, former work associates, folks that cut my hair managed the gym where I exercised, folks from Flint Hill, FBCFM and KFBC. As I looked around the room, I saw people who cared for me, counseled me, disciplined me, irritated me, nurtured me and encouraged me. Weaving through that collection of folks is a single, perpetual thread. I love them all so very much.

A Girl's (Boy's) Garden

A neighbor of mine in the village
Likes to tell how one spring
When she was a girl on the farm, she did A childlike thing.
One day she asked her father
To give her a garden plot
To plant and tend and reap herself, And he said, "Why not?"


The previous text is an excerpt from "A Girl's Garden" by Robert Frost, from the volume A Mountain Interval, first published in 1916. Today I planted my first flower garden. Trust me, I know precious little about plants, but I'm going to try to learn. A few weeks ago, we received (or I should say the previous owners of our house received) in the mail a catalog from Springhill Nursery. We thought it would be nice to have some color in the front of our house, so we browsed the catalog and selected flowers that supposedly do well in our climate and are fit for abundant sunshine, that will bloom from June until frost.

For the record, we planted Super Shasta Daisy, Little Business Daylily, Wonder of Staffa Aster, Rudbeckia Toto, Isaac House Hybrid Scabiosa and Pink Coreopsis. It's my understanding that deer tend to avoid most of these, so hopefully the critters won't get to them. The catalog also stated that some even attract butterflies.

Perhaps some of our friends and family (Aunt Pam) can help us with some growing tips. I absolutely want to avoid using nasty chemicals (if one can't pronounce it, one shouldn't be using it). But, by the same token I want to make sure I feed them properly (I already sang to them as I placed them in the ground). I look forward to what God will teach me through the process of planting and nurturing these flowers; I'm sure there are life lessons there. The girl in the poem ended up with "a little bit of everything and a great deal of none". I'm hoping we'll get a color splash of white, pink, blue, red, yellow and lavender.

Love to you from Kennesaw...

View From The Top

From the top of Kennesaw Mountain on a clear morning, the view is almost limitless. This morning was no exception. Cindy and I decided that we would tackle the mountain this morning during our long run, and the payoff speaks for itself. Sunrises at KEMO are a lot like the sunsets on Cape Cod; each one is different and they are all beautiful. At the risk of displaying my ignorance or sounding irreverent, I wonder if God ever looks around and says, "Wow!".


Cindy and I are beginning to pick up the weekly mileage a bit. A couple of friends from church have asked us to help them train for a fall marathon, and we may end up competing ourselves. While we are far from expert runners, we do have experiences that we are happy to share, both successes and failures. So, look for us in the field this fall. Cindy only has 12 minutes to shave for a Boston qualifier.


We've had a busy spring so far here in Big Shanty. My parents came for their first visit last week. They got to do a little sightseeing, and Dad even hiked up the mountain with me. Their time with us was topped of by a visit to The Varsity. "What'll ya have???!!!!" My answer to that question was three chili dogs, onion rings, lemonade and half of Cindy's milkshake, followed by a long night of indigestion!!


I'll be planting my first flower bed in a couple of weeks. Any tips will certainly be appreciated, and humorous updates are sure to follow.

Balcony People

Last June, as I was contemplating God's call into full time ministry, I took the course "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People". (It's interesting how God works, because I signed up for that class months before I ever began conversations with Kennesaw First Baptist Church, and by the time we were travelling for interviews, it was time for this class... but that's a another story in itself.) On the first day of the class, we talked about "balcony people". This concept is based on the "cloud of witnesses" passage from the New Testament book of Hebrews. Basically it means that we have been influenced by people in our past, some dead and some living (thank you, John Lennon), who are now watching us and pulling for us in our race for life. Our instructor encouraged us to write letters to our "balcony people" and thank them for pouring themselves into us. Try it. The exercise will cause you to look at your life with a different perspective. This blog is about one of my balcony people. Others may follow, maybe not, but this one begs to be written.

John Deloach. Band Director, Fort Mill High School, 1972-1977. If you are a former student, he will always be "Mr. Deloach". I first met Mr. Deloach in the fall of 1975, when he took over teaching duties at Fort Mill Junior High. I think I was afraid of him the first time I met him. Over the next 18 months, I grew to respect him immensely and love him deeply. He had this aura about him that told you that he was going to make you better and he knew it. Cocky? Likely. Confident? Oh, yes. Perfectionist? Don't even kid yourself otherwise. Driven and focused? You can bet your life on it. He was part musician, part Vince Lombardi. And I loved it.

Mr. Deloach spent hours with us, teaching us life lessons as he taught us music. He taught me that anything less than my best effort was failure. He taught me that even when I give my best effort, sometimes others will be better. He taught me to give and give and give until I had nothing left to give, then to give a little more. By the spring of 1977, I had been selected to the South Carolina All State Band, and I will never forget the look on his face when he told me the news. I think I was as happy for him as I was for myself.

I remember the day he told us he was resigning. I don't think I'll ever forget, nor do I desire to repeat, the feeling in the pit of my stomach. I felt like I was losing a parent, and I cried all the way home. He told me that everything would be ok, and again he was right. The world didn't stop just because he left, and in some ways it was even better, and through his leaving he taught me humility.

Three years after his departure, in the spring of 1980, I auditioned for the SC All State Band as a senior and was selected 1st Chair Tenor Saxophone. Mr. Deloach's influence on me had been so profound that I insisted that my parents locate him so that I could phone him with the news. When told him the results, he put the phone down and I could hear him literally screaming to his wife, who was on the other side of the house. He was so proud...

These days I think Mr. and Mrs. Deloach are retired and live somewhere in the upstate region of SC. I haven't talked to him in years, but I want him to know a few things. Mr. Deloach, thank you. God used you to help me become a servant leader. Mr. Deloach, I miss you. I use your lessons and methods often. Mr. Deloach, I love you. As a struggling teenager, my life could have taken so many directions, but praise God, you were there.

So, who are your balcony people?

January Randomness

Hello All... We're enjoying a little after dinner quiet. I was looking through some photos I received lately and thought someone might find these interesting.

First, someone sent this one to me on Facebook. This was taken in the spring of 1981. From the looks of the theatre props I'd say it was taken in the basement storage area of the music building at Furman. These are some of the Phi Mu Alpha brothers and pledges at something called a "pledge court". Don't ask because I honestly don't remember its purpose. Anyway, in the photo L-R are Jimmy Hembree, John Clanton, me and Bryant Waldkirch.

Next, we have a photo lovingly titled "Old Men of the Family". Evidently my mother's brothers decided to take a little road trip to see their eldest brother in Moses Lake, WA about a year ago (I think). The McKinney profile is not on prominent display but I can assure you it's there. In this photo we have L-R in ascending birth order, Roddy, Jim and Bo. What a crew!

Finally, we have a commemorative photo of a Kennesaw Mountain run with two members of the Citadel corps of cadets. These two gentlemen stopped by to see us in Kennesaw over the New Year's holiday, and of course we couldn't resist dragging them out for a little pre-dawn jaunt up Kennesaw Mountain (a true rite of passage for any Georgia runner). They were great! However, with all modesty I feel it my obligation to point out to the reader that the author of this blog (i.e. "Pops") outran them both to the summit. Michael claimed to have been distracted by a deer. For now, I guess I'll buy that. In this photo we have L-R Cadet 2nd Class Michael Dockery, Cindy "Queen of the Mountain" Newell, and Cadet 3rd Class Aaron Anderson.

Enjoy your chuckles...