"The Right Stuff"
“The Right Stuff”
Rev. Carolyn Waters
Jeremiah 17:5-10 & Luke 6:17-26
February 11, 2007 CCUM
My father was a simple man that I found to be a very complicated person. Of course, I had to live a few years and gain a few grey hairs to appreciate the complicated part of him!
I started thinking about some of my father’s “simple wisdom” this week when I saw a person that reminded me of someone from my adolescent and teenage years. It was so haunting seeing this man that I almost went up to him and ask if his name was Jimmy. But I choose to take the path of least embarrassment and just continue to wonder if “that man” might have been Jimmy Hollis.
Jimmy Hollis. Born in 1952, class of 1970, one year older than me. His father owned the “local telephone company” back when such a thing was possible. They had a lot of money! From grade school on, Jimmy was always the one in the middle of trouble.
The older I got the more exciting Jimmy’s behavior looked! So one of my high school evenings I joined a small group taking a ride with Jimmy. In Hinton, Oklahoma everything was a ride in the country so to say that would be redundant!
Well the car quit running. I don’t remember why. I do remember the car. It was a big old station wagon. I remember that because when the car stalled, we put down the tail gate, the three or four of us took off our shoes and splashed our feet in the water on the road and listened to the frogs. I can still hear the frogs, I can still feel the warm water on my feet, and I can still see the anger in my father’s eyes when I finally got home that night.
There was absolutely nothing wrong about any part of the evening, except that I was in the company of Jimmy Hollis. The words I remember my father using to justify the reason for my grounding were: “Jimmy Hollis is not made of the right stuff, you are not to be around him, do you understand?”
Nothing very complicated about that parental commandment. As was the case for most of my father’s instruction to his children, everything was very clear, to the point, cut and dry…………no room for misinterpretation or areas of grey to weasel around in!
“Jimmy Hollis is not made of the right stuff.”
Even though a part of me knew perfectly well what dad meant, there was also a part of me that thought Jimmy was one of the coolest guys around. He was also on a fast track to destroying himself.
Not made of the right stuff. How does one get made of the right stuff or what happens that the stuff one gets made of turns out to not be right.
Aren’t we all made of the same stuff? What, does some stuff get more attention that other stuff? Is some stuff worth more than other stuff? Does some stuff have more potential that other stuff? Don’t we all have the opportunity to take the stuff we’re made of and make something of it?
From some stories I’ve heard, before my father married my mother there could very well have been some fathers and mothers that said of Russell Hofman, “stay away from that young man, he’s not made of the right stuff!”
I still think Jimmy was made of the right stuff. It’s just that his stuff got a little out of order for awhile in his teenage years. Now I wish I would have gone up to that man I saw this past week and asked his name. If would have been such a joy to find out that his name was Jimmy.
People not made of the right stuff must be the one’s who end up being cursed or wowed! You know, from Jeremiah 17:5&6 “Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord. They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes.” Not very appealing.
Then there are the woes in Luke 6, “woe to you who are rich, woe to you who are full, woe to you who are laughing, woe to you who have a good reputation…..” Kind of takes the fun out of enjoying life, just like my dad seemed to take the fun out of being a teenager!
God knew Jeremiah had been made of the right stuff and hoped that Jeremiah would live a life reflecting the right stuff when he offered Jeremiah the blessing that comes from trusting in “the Lord.” (Jer 17:7&8) “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust in the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it doesn not cease to bear fruit.”
And what is the difference between the cursed and the blessed? It has to have something to do with the heart. The cursed turn their hearts away from God. The blessed, have their hearts searched by God and God finds within the heart of creation places of goodness, places of generosity, places of compassion, places of empathy, and places of self-less-ness. And in those places of creation, God turns and calls them blessed.
They are the people who have taken the stuff they were made of and turned it into what is good.
There are not people who were made of the wrong stuff. But there are people who have taken the stuff they were made of and turned it into what is selfish, destructive, materialistic, and everything of this world.
I’m not convinced that I want to be blessed all the time, or maybe even very much of the time. Listen to what constitutes being blessed: “Blessed are you who are poor, blessed are you who weep now, blessed are you when people hate you.”
I don’t know if I’m made of the right stuff to be such a person. It’s not the way the world operates. At least in Jeremiah the blessing comes in the form of fresh water and a live oak tree. Wouldn’t you rather be a live oak tree with roots planted deep into the rich soil by a wonderful stream of water than a poor, hungry, crying person hated by others?
Something is twisted here. Maybe that’s why my father didn’t like going to church.
And maybe when my father did go to church he wasn’t paying enough attention to the complicated simplicity of it all. Because now I believe my father was wrong. He was wrong about Jimmy. He probably wasn’t wrong about my needing to hang out with a different group of people at the time, but he was wrong about Jimmy not being made of the right stuff.
The last I knew Jimmy Hollis was heavily into drugs, had been through several marriages, and had used up most of his inheritance.
As I reflect on these words of blessing and curse, blessed and wowed, if Jimmy has had the hard life he is apt to have had, he understands more about being blessed than I do. My guess is that he has had far more occasion to touch the places of emptiness that equate themselves to being poor, that he has found himself in crowds of strangers with no place to go, and that his reputation has kept anyone of stature from claiming he was made of the right stuff.
But there was something else about Jimmy that most people didn’t take the time to see. He had a glisten in his eyes, a kind and gentle smile, an edge of creativity to make or fix anything.
Maybe, if he was able to escape the social structure of a small Oklahoma town, he lived his life out of the woes into the blessings that were in store for him………
Because, you know……….we are all made of the right stuff.
Rev. Carolyn Waters
Jeremiah 17:5-10 & Luke 6:17-26
February 11, 2007 CCUM
My father was a simple man that I found to be a very complicated person. Of course, I had to live a few years and gain a few grey hairs to appreciate the complicated part of him!
I started thinking about some of my father’s “simple wisdom” this week when I saw a person that reminded me of someone from my adolescent and teenage years. It was so haunting seeing this man that I almost went up to him and ask if his name was Jimmy. But I choose to take the path of least embarrassment and just continue to wonder if “that man” might have been Jimmy Hollis.
Jimmy Hollis. Born in 1952, class of 1970, one year older than me. His father owned the “local telephone company” back when such a thing was possible. They had a lot of money! From grade school on, Jimmy was always the one in the middle of trouble.
The older I got the more exciting Jimmy’s behavior looked! So one of my high school evenings I joined a small group taking a ride with Jimmy. In Hinton, Oklahoma everything was a ride in the country so to say that would be redundant!
Well the car quit running. I don’t remember why. I do remember the car. It was a big old station wagon. I remember that because when the car stalled, we put down the tail gate, the three or four of us took off our shoes and splashed our feet in the water on the road and listened to the frogs. I can still hear the frogs, I can still feel the warm water on my feet, and I can still see the anger in my father’s eyes when I finally got home that night.
There was absolutely nothing wrong about any part of the evening, except that I was in the company of Jimmy Hollis. The words I remember my father using to justify the reason for my grounding were: “Jimmy Hollis is not made of the right stuff, you are not to be around him, do you understand?”
Nothing very complicated about that parental commandment. As was the case for most of my father’s instruction to his children, everything was very clear, to the point, cut and dry…………no room for misinterpretation or areas of grey to weasel around in!
“Jimmy Hollis is not made of the right stuff.”
Even though a part of me knew perfectly well what dad meant, there was also a part of me that thought Jimmy was one of the coolest guys around. He was also on a fast track to destroying himself.
Not made of the right stuff. How does one get made of the right stuff or what happens that the stuff one gets made of turns out to not be right.
Aren’t we all made of the same stuff? What, does some stuff get more attention that other stuff? Is some stuff worth more than other stuff? Does some stuff have more potential that other stuff? Don’t we all have the opportunity to take the stuff we’re made of and make something of it?
From some stories I’ve heard, before my father married my mother there could very well have been some fathers and mothers that said of Russell Hofman, “stay away from that young man, he’s not made of the right stuff!”
I still think Jimmy was made of the right stuff. It’s just that his stuff got a little out of order for awhile in his teenage years. Now I wish I would have gone up to that man I saw this past week and asked his name. If would have been such a joy to find out that his name was Jimmy.
People not made of the right stuff must be the one’s who end up being cursed or wowed! You know, from Jeremiah 17:5&6 “Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord. They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes.” Not very appealing.
Then there are the woes in Luke 6, “woe to you who are rich, woe to you who are full, woe to you who are laughing, woe to you who have a good reputation…..” Kind of takes the fun out of enjoying life, just like my dad seemed to take the fun out of being a teenager!
God knew Jeremiah had been made of the right stuff and hoped that Jeremiah would live a life reflecting the right stuff when he offered Jeremiah the blessing that comes from trusting in “the Lord.” (Jer 17:7&8) “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust in the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it doesn not cease to bear fruit.”
And what is the difference between the cursed and the blessed? It has to have something to do with the heart. The cursed turn their hearts away from God. The blessed, have their hearts searched by God and God finds within the heart of creation places of goodness, places of generosity, places of compassion, places of empathy, and places of self-less-ness. And in those places of creation, God turns and calls them blessed.
They are the people who have taken the stuff they were made of and turned it into what is good.
There are not people who were made of the wrong stuff. But there are people who have taken the stuff they were made of and turned it into what is selfish, destructive, materialistic, and everything of this world.
I’m not convinced that I want to be blessed all the time, or maybe even very much of the time. Listen to what constitutes being blessed: “Blessed are you who are poor, blessed are you who weep now, blessed are you when people hate you.”
I don’t know if I’m made of the right stuff to be such a person. It’s not the way the world operates. At least in Jeremiah the blessing comes in the form of fresh water and a live oak tree. Wouldn’t you rather be a live oak tree with roots planted deep into the rich soil by a wonderful stream of water than a poor, hungry, crying person hated by others?
Something is twisted here. Maybe that’s why my father didn’t like going to church.
And maybe when my father did go to church he wasn’t paying enough attention to the complicated simplicity of it all. Because now I believe my father was wrong. He was wrong about Jimmy. He probably wasn’t wrong about my needing to hang out with a different group of people at the time, but he was wrong about Jimmy not being made of the right stuff.
The last I knew Jimmy Hollis was heavily into drugs, had been through several marriages, and had used up most of his inheritance.
As I reflect on these words of blessing and curse, blessed and wowed, if Jimmy has had the hard life he is apt to have had, he understands more about being blessed than I do. My guess is that he has had far more occasion to touch the places of emptiness that equate themselves to being poor, that he has found himself in crowds of strangers with no place to go, and that his reputation has kept anyone of stature from claiming he was made of the right stuff.
But there was something else about Jimmy that most people didn’t take the time to see. He had a glisten in his eyes, a kind and gentle smile, an edge of creativity to make or fix anything.
Maybe, if he was able to escape the social structure of a small Oklahoma town, he lived his life out of the woes into the blessings that were in store for him………
Because, you know……….we are all made of the right stuff.
posted by Rev Waters | 8:08 AM
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