It's Been Awhile

I've missed you, here at my perch on N. Wintzell.

It's been a busy few weeks. Suzanne continues her steady march towards setting the record for most pre-labor hospital stays following a particularly nasty bout of food-poisoning last week. We had the opportunity to celebrate Maggie's birthday a little early Saturday, and a good time was had by all. For a significant portion of the high school teams in Alabama, the football season has come to an end. As I've mentioned numerous times before on the blog, I've had the privilege this year to serve as a chaplain for the Alma Bryant High School football team. They wrapped up their season on October 29th at Ft. Walton Beach High School. Unfortunately, I was unable to make the trip, but you can read more about their victory here.

I can't say enough how proud I am of that group of guys. There were some tough losses along the way, and I know that they didn't meet all of their goals, but I watched a group of kids turn a corner this year. Something clicked, and the team made great strides through the second half of the season. As I spent time with the team and the coaches, I was reminded of the old axiom: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". In the first part of the season, I could sense a growing frustration as the coaching staff and players struggled through some tough games. The realization that methods and modes of thought that had been employed in previous seasons would not be effective made for some difficult days.

The great news is that the team turned the corner. I don't know how or why, I just know that they did. The team that took the field on October 29th was a fundamentally different team than the one that kicked off the season back in August. While the cast of characters remained the same, over the course of the season, I got to watch transformation take place. Kids that couldn't get out of their own way early in the year became impact players over the course of just a few weeks, and it was incredible to watch.

It seems that transformation is a difficult business. It's a lot easier to continue to do what we've always done. Our present methods are safe, inasmuch as the risk factors have been measured and understood, they have shown a level of effectiveness in our previous experience, and they are our familiar friends. We know them, we don't have to think about them, we just continue to do what we have done. In every system, every organization, and in every life, I believe that a moment (or more likely many moments) of transformation must come. How do we respond to this need? Will we embrace the need and pursue it, or will we always return to the safe and familiar. The cost of thinking transformationally is great, but the cost of living in a continual state of loss is greater.

That's my view anyway, from here on N. Wintzell!