mysterious negro

I never did get it

Did you ever play with train sets as a kid? My brother got one for christmas one year mounted on a sheet of plywood. 3x5 oval.Neat but the train just went in circles. The really cool set ups were at the mall at christmas time. Beautiful and elaborate. Huge. So cool. But in the end, they still basically went in circles. Bet they grew up to be NASCAR fans.

I never did get it. The movie, not trains. My brother and our friend Dane watched "Raising Arizona" and just thought it was the funniest movie ever. Just in the telling you couldn't help but laugh with them. So I was excited to see it. Didn't get it. Not what they got. It was funny enough but not as much as they let on. I didn't get it until..."O Brother Where Art Thou?". Because of content, I don't often go see "R" rated movies. I wait for them to come out on DVD and watch 'em on the Clearplay ( google Clearplay ). But I went and saw this and laughed so much my side hurt. Couldn't breath the whole movie. Major hoot!

Do you know what a pump car is? It's like a hand powered train car. You've seen them in those old west movies: Kind of like a flat bed trailer with a see-saw handle in the middle you pump up and down to move down the tracks. In the movie the 3 main characters escape a chain gang and try to hop a train but fall off.( The look on George Clooneys face is perfect!) As they stand arguing at the tracks a negro man (their word) on a pump car comes by and they hop aboard. He's blind, looks hot and tired yet he pumps away and begins to dispense a mysterious prophecy as he carries them to their destination.

Life is about relationships. With God, with spouse, with children, bosses, neighbors, co-workers...dogs and cats. This may come as some what of a surprise to the unmarried or newly married....marriage is hard. Sometimes it's REALLY hard.Mine has been at points. Mostly, it's my doing. Don't get me wrong - I'm a fine catch (Take the word "fine" any way you want) but I've shot my self in the foot and my wife in the heart so many times you could make a WHOLE country album. It takes hard work and determination. And lots of DAD's grace.

Lots of people give up on relationships. I think that's why the divorce rate is around 50%. Folks give up good jobs because bosses or co-workers make life unbearable. It just seems like there's something better "out there". I give up on my DAD all the time because having a relationship with an invisible Man is hard and I'm a quitter. But He lets me start again each day. That's nice. But it can be hard. It's like getting on that pump car each day and pumping away and I'm tired and hot and sweaty and I want to quit. I see people in "REAL" train cars having a good time and moving forward and I get sad.I have such a long way to go. I don't begrudge them. Lots of times I get to ride in a real car. But when I'm pumping, I sometimes want to quit.

I think this is some sort of apology. Because I've not done my part very well and I want to do better. And I want us all to do better. I've known so many through my short life who have grown tired and have given up. Who've quit on God or their marriage and it breaks my heart. It breaks my heart mostly because I'm ashamed of my paltry efforts on their behalf. IF I even noticed! There have been times I've needed that help too, for some one to put me on my cart, to hold me, to help me pump, to give an encouraging words and sage advice. To be my mysterious negro....