play

For memorial day weekend I went home to visit with the family before my summer in Nashville started. I hopped in the car on Friday morning after a stop at Barista Parlor and was home by eight that night. One of the reasons why I went home was because of these two:

My nephews, Caden and Jacob (or Cade and Jake if you like). They're pretty cute, though I suppose I am a little biased. I really did want to see Mom and Dad before they left for their trip to San Fransisco, and I wanted to see Sam and Melissa and catch up about life. But there is something about hanging out with a two and (almost) one-year-old. And they're boys, which is easy for me. 

The most special moment of the trip happened on Sunday as Sam, Melissa, Jake, Cade and myself were on our way down to Springfield for the day. If you've never crammed in a VW Pissat with two other adults and two kiddos than you won't understand the experience. And if you have, I feel for you (At one point Melissa remarked that this was perfect birth control for me, and that I would go back to Nashville and write a blog about the loud car ride to and from Springfield). There was a lull in the conversation between Sam and me and so I did what every adult does in that situation: looked back at the kids (babies are great for this. I don't know how I got through life without a baby to look at when I didn't know what to say to someone). Jake was being like his dad, loud. He wasn't fussy (yet), he was just having a really good time hollering about something. I looked back, pursed my lips and pressed my finger to them, shut my eyes tight, and said "shhhhh!!!!" He giggled, probably (correctly) thinking that Uncle Luke was being silly. Cade looked over at Jake giggling and did the same. We went back and forth a couple of times: Uncle Luke "shhhhhh-ing," Jake giggling, Cade giggling.

Out of all the things that happened that weekend, all the conversations I had, this is the event that has stuck with me. The word I think of when I think about when I think about this time, about any time with my nephews is a simple, old one:

Play.

When I think about those two I think about playing, I think about throwing them up in the air, whirling them around, tickling and blowing raspberries on tummies. I think about Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and Toy Story 3. About big, goofy, Lancaster smiles at cameras. About play.

After thinking about that for a while I started asking myself another question:

Why don't I play anymore?

I don't call my friends up and say, "You wanna go out and play?" Because they'd probably think I was a little crazy. Or their response would be, "Play what?" And I wouldn't have much of a response to that. But is it a problem that they would respond that way? I don't think so. Deep within my heart I have a yearning to splash around creeks, tromp through the woods, bloody up knees and elbows, and come home as the sun is setting. I don't know if it needs to be planned out, or if there needs to be deep meaning attached to it. I simply want to play.

Part of me is thinking that this may just be me trying to avoid the trials of adulthood, but another part is telling me that I'm merely trying to simplify what I call adulthood. To let life be life, and to live it. 

Luke

luketlancaster@gmail.com

@luketlancaster on twitter

lalaluke on instagram

guest post: smell the roses, blow out the candles

Every time someone decides to let me publish their words I get real excited. And then I don't do anything with those words for a long time. But I have some free time for the next hour or so (Rob is in Brentwood, and I don't have a key) and I thought I would write. I then remembered that Zach Erwin wrote a little something and I said that I would post it on my blog. That was a couple of weeks ago, so sorry to Zach for being such a bum.

Zach was one of my campers last year at Brookwoods. I'm proud of the man he's becoming, and I'm glad that I've had the opportunity to visit him in Louisville three or four times since camp. I don't know what else I can say by way of introduction, so I'll let his words speak for himself. If you'd like to get a hold of him let me know and I'll see what I can arrange. And if you'd like to post something (either as me or as yourself) let me know and let's make that happen. 

Without further ado, here are Zach's words: 

"Life, the compilation of multiple years meshed together to form lives. Each year that passes we should hold in memory, but never wish to return to that year. In Tuesday's With Morrie, a recurring theme is that it is never good to wish we were somewhere in our past, nor should we ever hope for the future to come quicker than it will.

Wishing for the past is an empty wish because if we were in the past we would never know what we had learned since then; wishing to "redo" a moment just doesn't work, because without it we would never have learned what we learned in the moment. What I'm saying is that without those moments, without those mistakes, we would never be able to be in a place where we saw that they were a mistake.

Wishing for the future to come is a wish that you will regret in the future itself. By not taking advantage of the place you are currently you are wasting your own time. If you don't look for the value in each moment you will never realize the price of that moment, that each moment holds an opportunity that you will never get back. Even now I'm sitting on the floor, bow tie and glasses on in my uncles house hours after my great aunt's funeral service; so the value of life is a little more on my mind than ever.

All around me there's a small party of talking adults -- many of which are faking there way through a conversation that they aren't interested in. Is that even practical? Is that a good way to spend life? Is typing this on an iPad a waste of my time?

I ran with Clay today, is that ok? How about chilling out with a game of Mario after a stressful day? Should one always push and press on?
The audio buzzing around me is a conglomeration of many conversations, all talking about something different: some new achievement, what they plan on doing in the future, etc. But I would bet none are talking about Christ. Why is it that so many flinch and shy away at Jesus's name? People remain civilized when they talk about Buddha and Brahman and Allah and even the ever so broad term "god," but if Jesus comes up in conversation all bets are off, lawyers called, and lawsuits filed.

What does Jesus even think of this? What does he think of how we spend our life? It's amazing that we could hear the greatest truth and walk away not talking about it. I mean come on.

John 3:16

How many eyes just rolled or people went through the verse in their mind and then toned out what they're reading now. How can we be tired of John 3:16? That's insane. "For God so loved the world" the beginning alone doesn't even make sense, much less the rest of it, "that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."

They say that when you have a favorite book you wish you had not read it only because you want you could read it again for the first time with a freshness that only comes with the first reading, because there is something about reading text for the first time that holds your attention captive. Then there are those texts that even hold you for ransom and only desire the retribution of understanding.

So do we think we have paid our ransom to the Bible? Even more specifically to the text of John 3:16? How audacious of us to think we have understood this. If we have then to hell with the Bible; to hell with Christ even. If you think you have the Bible understood then you might as well do with it what you do with a book you are done with: sell it to half price books or give it away.

Some of you are offended by what I just said but if your body or mind had no reaction to John 3:16 then what I said is true. That immense truth claim should either evoke disgust, if you don't believe it; confusion, if you don't understand it; relief, if you believe it; or AT LEAST SOMETHING! Cause if it doesn't, then we're messed up. I'm not here to preach because my reaction is just the same -- no reaction at all. "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand  rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed." All I'm saying is that our eyes have been closed to the wonder of the scriptures that we've heard over and over and over and over again, but we have got to wake up or we will sleep for the rest of our lives."

the wonderful wonderings of mister luke

It's been far too long since I've last posted, and even longer since I've actually written about what I've been up to. Think of this as a "state of the luke address." Chances are most of you have given up trying to figure out where I am or why I'm there, and I certainly don't blame you because I have as well. I feel as if I'm as much along for the ride as anyone else is. Below I'm going to give you a little month-by-month account of my life, starting when I left Nashville and ending a couple of minutes from now.



June 2011


I left Harvest Hands and Nashville on the 11th, the day my second nephew Caden William was born. I was in Kansas City for a little under a week, and then I went to Columbus for a wedding. After the two days in Cbus (as the natives call it) I flew into Boston, and drove up to Alton, New Hampshire for camp. During June we went canoeing a couple of times, camped on an island, learned about Jesus through a guy with my name's eyes, and generally had a pretty good time.



July 2011





Spent the entire month of July at camp. More of the same, but that wasn't a bad thing. Spent the time deepening relationships with campers and co-counselors alike and learning more about leading a program than I ever had before. Saw the first part of Captain America, figured out I was in the wrong theater, then saw Harry Potter.


August 2011


First couple of weeks spent at camp. Some of the most challenging weeks of my life. Spent three days on a hike I was supposed to be on for six, wallowed about that for a while, helped my campers put on one of the most original and exciting banquets I have had the privilege of witnessing, and then left camp. Ten days in KC with the family, then a flight back up to Boston.


September 2011


Worked the first part of September in Keen, New Hampshire at a "Bivouac" program for BB&N, a private school in Boston. Lots of firsts at this camp: self-repelled down a tree, set up and tore down ropes courses, picked heirloom apples, baked a couple of giant apple pies, etc. It was a great experience, and I hope to do it again sometime in my future. After Biv I went to Boston, bussed to New York, and then rode from there down to Charleston, SC with a camp/biv counselor. Long boarded around downtown and shrimped. Flew out of Charleston to start my life again in KC.


October 2011


Started looking for work in Kansas City while living with Mom and Dad. Applied a bunch of places and eventually started back up at Subway. I found a job at PT's in Topeka, worked in their roasting plant for three days, and couldn't bring myself to move to "Top City." Told them, got another offer to work for Parisi Coffee in their roasting facility (great location), but didn't feel happy in KC so I turned that down as well. Visited Boston at the end of the month. Played through Assassin's Creed: Revelations


November 2011


Continued work at Subway. Thanksgiving with family, more time with nephews. They're the cutest, don't even argue with me about it. Played through all the Uncharted games, while mom watched.


December 2011


Christmastime with family, more working at Subway. Switched my phone service from T-Mobile to Sprint and got a new iphone. Continued the process of thinking about moving. Loved being home for the holidays. New Years Eve at the Saucer with Melissa, Neal, and Sam (for a bit).


January 2012


Worked at Subway until late in the month. Bought my first car (2000 VW Jetta TDI, diesel) and got that squared away. Moved to Columbus, OH after an awesome geocaching roadtrip with Dad.


February 2012


Got a job at Northstar Cafe in Columbus, and an offer for another at a Chase bank. Went out for a lot of coffee with Chris during the beginning of the month.


March 2012


More work at Northstar, roadtrip with Chris to New York. I continued on through CT up to Boston seeing friends and going to National Parks. Another trip to Nashville to visit friends and gloat about Kansas doing so well to the Kentucky fans down here.


April 2012


Another trip to Nashville for Easter/to finalize work for the summer. An unexpected trip to KC for my Grandma Lucille's funeral, and a visit from Mom and Dad in Columbus. Quit Northstar on great terms, packed up the car, and moved to Nashville. Working at Harvest Hands for the summer while trying to get a research job at Vanderbilt.



That brings us to May 2012, but as it isn't finished I thought I would leave that for another time.

I hope you enjoyed being caught up on my past year, at least as much as I have enjoyed living it.

Next week I'll be posting a piece that one of my campers from last year wrote, so look forward to that. I have shut my facebook down, so if you enjoy any of my posts please feel free to share them with anyone in any way that you'd like. I'll be writing soon about why I did that, but I felt like this might lay the groundwork for that. And that nobody knows what's going on in my life and that some folks may like to know.

Oh, and I have a new fascination with sending postcards. Shoot me your address in an e-mail and the next time I'm on an adventure (let's be honest, it'll be soon) I'll drop one in the mail for you.


luke
luketlancaster@gmail.com

how to: dish like a pro

I started reading "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck the other day (a couple of weeks ago, but "the other day" rolls off the tongue a little nicer). My copy was purchased from a used book store here in Columbus for $3.50, which makes me think the we should all be buying used books from used book stores. But that is a discussion for another day and another post. I bring up "East of Eden" because in it one brother is writing to another, and begins with: "Dear Brother Adam, I take my pen in hand to hope you are in good health" Steinbeck continues "he always started this way to ease himself gently into the task of writing."I feel that I need some phrase to ease myself into the task of blogging, because it always seems I use a paragraph to do it.

This week I hope you'll learn something. I have been working at Northstar for about two months now and wanted to pass of some of the handy tricks I have learned while busing tables. If you have any serving experience I'm sure this will be old hat, but I thought it might be fun to anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of picking up after other peoples kids.

First: let's start of with the glasses. Northstar is a classy joint (the owners would shudder if they heard me describe their restaurant like that) where we don't have customers: we have guests. Because of this we only stack things two high, and pint glasses don't get stacked at all. When you get to the table you'll need to assess how many items you'll be able to carry. Don't worry if it seems overwhelming, you'll get it down quickly enough.

Ok. Step one in carrying glasses. Put on in between your thumb and index finger and grip. Like this:

Great! Now you'll add another glass, taken care of by your other fingers (middle, ring, pinky in case you forgot which ones you had left).

As you can see, the glass is being gripped in between the pinky and index, while being supported by the middle and ring fingers. If your grip is sure enough you'll be able to hold the glasses upside down without any problem. Don't do this at work though, the partners will get a little cross. On to the next glass!

This one is a little tricky. Balance the third glass in your palm, resting it against the first two if need be. Don't try the upside down trick now. Glasses are expensive.

Now on to plates. You can hold up to six at a time like this, but I'm going to show you three. I've been doing it all day, so I thought I'd take a break.

Place the plate in between your thumb and pinky finger, supporting it with your index, middle, and ring fingers. Easy peasy.

The next plate goes under the first, with your middle finger under it and your index and ring fingers above it. These three fingers act like a kind of vice to keep the plate steady.

Balance the third plate on the platform created by your forearm and palm, above the first plate. If you double up each plate you can get six without too much of a problem. You should also be able to carry plates full of food like this pretty easily, give it a try!

Bonus:

Mix it up! Try to carry a combination of plates and glasses! See what you can accomplish!

----

I realize that this is all a bit silly. But during my orientation at Northstar I (for some reason I've not forgotten) brought up an idea: the idea that everybody is looking to grow and develop, to become more than they are, to learn. Kevin, the owner, said that he simply didn't believe that was true. And while it may not be his point still made me sad. I have a desire in me to learn, to master things. To be better tomorrow than I am today. And I hope that you have the same drive in you. I don't know if you have learned anything today, but I hope that by reading this you are a bit more developed. A bit more knowledgeable. A bit more ready to serve even.

Luke
luketlancaster@gmail.com