MISSED OPPORTUNITY?

Are you telling me that the Cubs couldn't have ponied up four fairly unremarkable prospects to get this guy for their pitching staff?

What a 100-year anniversary gift he would have been!

Baseball Hero

For many years, my boys and I have looked up to one player as the epitome of what baseball is all about—Cal Ripken, Jr. We had an opportunity to hear him speak and answer questions today here in Indianapolis, and it was a real treat.

His basic message? There are no shortcuts to success. It is all about heart and hard work, desire and effort. Just the kind of talk you'd expect to hear from a guy who went out and did his job to the best of his ability every day and showed us what it means to love the game.

Thanks, Cal.

SMALL VICTORIES

My friend, Jeff Mercer, has written a book about his son Daniel that I highly recommend to you. Daniel Patrick Mercer was one of a kind, and he was taken from us when he was far too young. A star athlete, honor roll student, and fun-loving character, Daniel died of a brain tumor at age 18. This book records the poignant story of his family's experience and the lessons about "small victories" that we all learned from being with him on his journey.

Go to SMALL VICTORIES and order your copy today. All proceeds go to support young people through the Johnson County Community Foundation.

PRAYING FOR KENYA...

We are praying these days for the people of Kenya, who are in the midst of violent strife after recent elections. A humanitarian crisis is looming if circumstances do not begin improving soon.

NEXT SEASON IN THE CHURCH YEAR...

Advent and Christmas is now past, so my "Advent Thoughts" blog will be inactive until November, though you can still access it.

I will report on journeys through the rest of the church year on my "Baching through the Church Year" page. That's right, "baching"—I will be using Bach's cantatas to guide me through the seasons of the liturgical calendar.

I'd love company! Feel free to drop by any time!

What I'm Watching...

Mira Nair's gentle meditation about cultural disorientation is a quiet film in which nothing much happens, that is, besides the ordinary events of life. An immigrant couple in New York from India has two children. The children grow up in suburbia and become adults. Key characters work, have relationships, and die in the natural course of their lives. A rather mundane story, after all.

Nair's genius lies in two aspects of telling this simple tale. First, life through her eyes is stunningly beautiful. This film, like her others, exhibits the lush sensuality of India itself--its vivid colors, textures and sounds. Whether it is the dramatic decor of a Bengali wedding, the striking whiteness of a Hindu funeral, or the common streets, apartments and work places of New York, sights and sounds burst all around with life and vitality. The awkward and tentative lovemaking of a young couple whose marriage was arranged, or a single shot of samosas sizzling in a pan on a hot stove can evoke intense passion and yearning.

Second, her characters are genuine and reveal the depth of ordinary life experience. The three primary characters, father Ashoke (Irfan Khan), mother Ashima (Tabu), and son, Gogol (Kal Penn) all demonstrate remarkable capacity to be quiet and patient in their roles. Words like modest, graceful, gentle, thoughtful and careful describe them well. We learn the full force of ordinary events by watching them simply be real people who feel that force and don't by their acting try to persuade us how significant these things are.

The film's title and much of its subplot refers to the name "Gogol" given to the son. Nicolai Gogol was a Russian author, and it is intriguing to watch how a Russian name given to an American boy by his Indian immigrant parents helps him negotiate the tricky journey of figuring out one's cultural identity and place in the world.