On My Shelves

Someone was in my office not too long ago and noted that "there are so many little knick-knacks on your shelves."

And, this is true...I've accumulated all sorts of things over the years that sit on my shelves. But they're oh so much more than knick-knacks. There's a story behind each one.

Now, I've told you before at The Diner about the major things in the office--the putter, the weedeater, the boards from houses in Mexico signed by kids, the paintings of landmarks in my hometown & college town, the photos of mission trip teams on location, all that stuff. But today I'll tell you about the stuff that more or less just sits on the shelves.

Actually draped over the shelves are soccer scarves that I ask teenagers to bring me from when they go on mission trips that I don't get to go on. Some are with other organizations, some are from our church, but I have scarves from the Czech Republic, Greece, Spain, Holland, & England. Oddly, I don't have any from the former Soviet Union states or Mexico...or any from Africa. I might have to lean on those kids who went to those places to grab one for me as I've slacked off on the demand. From Russia, however, some kids were nice enough to bring me back a traditional Russian hat as well as a box of "Barf" (which is a gentle soap that comes in a small box)--which the teen told me she purchased an extra box because she knew I'd love having that in my office.

There's a pair of cowboy boots that someone gave me made of ostrich and I've been told they're very nice. I made a comment when teaching a sermon once that I moved to Texas and somehow when I crossed the state line I developed an odd desire to get a pair despite the fact, well, they're not really "me." This nice man in my church had a pair given to as a business perk him that weren't his size, but happened to be mine. I wore them once. They hurt my feet.

I have a softball trophy from 2002 when my team won the local league championship. I haven't played much since, but I had a great time and it was the first time my kids got to see me play after hearing about me playing their whole lives. I tripled in the first at-bat they came and made a few plays in the field that night and my daughter said, "Dad, you know...you really are good at baseball." I also have two trophies from being on a golf scramble team that won...if you know anything about golf, I'm a dream scramble player because I have a VERY HIGH handicap yet I can occasionally sink putts or pull out one or two long drives my team can use.

There's also a trophy for 2nd place that Brad Shuffield & Rob Edwards and I won in 2000 in a 3-on-3 basketball tournament at a public park in Holland that we entered. It wasn't that we were that good, but even average basketball players from the U.S. are better than really good Dutch players. I'd imagine the converse is true with soccer.

There's another trophy that Kelsey and I won at our old church for coming in 2nd place in the "TLC 500" which was really one of those races where everyone in our church made a car from kit and it raced down a track we borrowed from the local Boy Scouts. We really did the competition the way it's designed to be done, making the car together and painting it and everything. It was a good time.

There's an autographed baseball from the staff at the Baptist church I worked in before my current job. It was kind of an inside joke because I sold sports memorabilia at a store in Town East Mall to put myself through seminary in addition to the church job and the staff thought it'd be funny to give me an autographed ball (I got #1 of 3, hence making it "more valuable") upon my departure for Crossroads.

There are two framed photos that teens gave me. My friends Rebekah and Cristina gave me a photo of them with a yellow-tape "Q." It stands for the only time teens pranked me that I never found out for sure who did it (although I had suspicions, nobody squealed)--they quarantined my house after I was diagnosed with walking pneumonia a few years ago. Yellow tape was all over my yard and I can't tell you how much I laughed about it. They 'fessed up during their senior speeches, proud of their secrecy for nearly a year. There's also a photo box with a stick of wood and some photos of Katherine...who gave it to me because I challenged her to teach the Word on our mission trip to The Navajo Nation & The Hopi Nation. Her sermon was about how God used a stick of wood in Exodus, and if He can use a stick of wood to do great things...well, you get the picture. I really admire Katherine and borderline coveted her giftedness and her passion for ministry...when she wasn't encouraging me, anyway.

There's a painting Dave got when he was in Israel of the Sea of Galillee in the time of Christ. I haven't framed it yet, but it's really nice to look at and inspirational in a lot of ways.

There's a Magic 8-Ball. One teen in Alabama gave it to me when they graduated because "you never said you had all the answers and weren't afraid to say that you didn't know what to do. So, this will help." I used it whenever teens came in for dating advice.

There's a photo Jess gave me after we went to Holland in 2000. She was enjoying our day off and while the rest of the team was scurrying to get to the next place so we could see it all and still make the last train back to Alkmaar, she wanted to go slower and soak in some of the stuff. I mean, how often are you in the Queen's Forest, anyway? So, I kept telling the team to slow down...and as a gesture of appreciation for "getting her" she gave me a picture she took while the rest of the team waited.

There are various art projects my kids made pre-K. Sand art. Things they purchased at the Secret Santa workshop. One is a ladybug in a box that says "I (heart) Daddy."

There are hockey pucks commemorating special games I saw...including Dallas in game #2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and when I saw the 1980 U.S. Hockey Team (yes, that team) play the Birmingham Bulls in my hometown before the Olympics that year. I also have a puck with the Bulls' logo on it that I caught during pre-game warmups once. There are Coca-Cola bottles commemorating Auburn's 1983 miracle season (when they got robbed of a National Championship, which similarly happened in 2004).

There's a gorilla wearing an Auburn t-shirt that plays "Rock N Roll, Part 2" when you squeeze the hand. Jacque gave me that when she purchased it at a garage sale for a buck...and she knew I liked Auburn. She's also given me a "gun" made out of PVC pipe that shoots little marshmallows and some Wallace & Gromit stuff.

There's a bowl Tracy M. (now Tracy P.) made in ceramics class in high school that says "World's Greatest Youth Pastor" inside it. There's an overgrown pen that a teen gave me because I encouraged her to write. There's a photo from the class of 2006 that thanks me for being their "sweaty-toothed madman" in reference to my using almost every scene in Dead Poet's Society during their four years of high-school.

There's a football-leather "paper football" with Auburn's logo on it as well as some uprights...and a beanie baby Auburn Tiger.

I also have a framed photo of Van Gogh's "Bible in Still Life" (which reminds me what we're up against daily in my business. If you don't know, grab an art appreciation class and learn how to "read" that painting) and a mug from Hubbell's Trading Post (on the reservation)--one of those "tin" ones you see when you see cowboys in the movies sitting around having coffee around the campfire. I learned that they get very hot. I also have a mug from Pike's Peak where we stopped on our way to Family Camp one year.

And, that's pretty much the list. It's funny how some people see clutter or tell me I should clean off my shelves to look "more professional." It seems to me that the relationships those things represent are at the heart of my profession...and on one hand, they're just trinkets.

On the other, in many ways, priceless.

Because they remind me often of the charmed life I lead.