Tomorrow marks the launch of the 2010-2011 Edge newspaper staff. We hold our first meeting. Whatever happens in that room tomorrow has the potential to set the tone for the rest of the year. I hope that the staff members who are able to make it to our first meeting will walk through the door with a passion, a drive, a fire to make this year the BEST, most adventurous year yet. Maybe you, whoever you are in this great big world, are just about to set out on your own personal journey. Your first step has the potential to set the tone for your entire journey and your destination. How will you begin?
I found a really cool quote, which is attributed to Howard Thurman. It goes like this: “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
What I’m saying is, it’s time we come ALIVE no matter what we’re doing. God wants our best, so let’s rev up and do it! I believe to become alive, you must be willing to stand as though on a mountaintop with the wind hitting you full force in the face, absorbing the splendor of God’s abounding blessings all around. Too often we would rather stay down in the valley rather than put forth the effort and take the risk to make it to the top. Without the push, the drive, the desire, we miss out on what’s waiting for us at the top. Of course, we have to remember, too, the joy is in the journey, not just the destination.
I want to start out our newspaper journey with a fun first day, so I’ve asked the Edgers to indulge me in a bit of “show and tell.” So far my students have told me they’ve considered bringing a rather odd assortment of items to show where they’ve been all summer: lava rocks from Hawaii, a roast pig, refrigerator boxes, Bob Marley, the vuvuzela and a guinea pig, to name a few.
Let me just say this. I can handle just about any of those items except for the vuvuzela. In case you don’t know, the vuvuzela is a stadium horn, the same horn that makes that horrendous sound at soccer matches, such as what sounded nonstop during the World Cup. Heaven help us all. I am so glad Gabriel will sound his trumpet and not his vuvezela. Otherwise, I may be too fearful to respond. Yes, the vuvuzela terrifies me. Oh, I think I know who invented the vuvuzela. Oh, who could it be? Could it be…? (Young people will have no idea what I am referencing here. It is just as well.)
The oddest item suggested was the guinea pig. I have one major fear, that my staff will confuse the guinea pig with the roast pig. I must remember not to bring any skewers or apples. If someone happens to bring the vuvuzela, I’d say the chances are pretty good we will have a potentially fatal rodent incident in the classroom. Hopefully, PETA will intervene.
Tomorrow is a new day, a new journey. Whatever it takes to make you COME ALIVE, bring it. For me, it’s music. When I wrote The Edge, I listened to quite a bit of music I considered theme music for the characters—so that I could feel what they were feeling. When I wanted to see what they saw, I visited haunted grounds and Beale Street to make the book’s settings come alive. I drank lots of peppermint mochas because one of the main characters really digs peppermint mochas (as do I). I didn’t want to settle for mediocre. I wanted to climb to the top and experience every last detail. I wanted to feel alive.
Tomorrow you journey forth on a new adventure. COME ALIVE!
