That said, my perception of both traditional and direct media coverage surrounding the announcement is that it contains a hidden message as important as Legoland itself. I encourage you to read this post from The Daily Disney blog “A Mom and the Mouse” by Kristin Ford. The column highlights the Lego Imagination Center at Downtown Disney, which is an existing interactive play area and Lego store to which children flock en masse. The author includes an important paragraph acknowledging the new Polk Legoland and its proximity to the Orlando attractions. And she closes the piece by encouraging financial incentives and other “tie-ins” to entice visitors to venture off the Disney property and try something new.

As I read more about the author, I learned that she is a self-proclaimed Disney enthusiast who’s been given a space on that blog by The Orlando Sentinel specifically to discuss activities at Disney. So “don’t look now,” but here’s another example of a neighbor to our East focused on a big deal in Polk, and encouraging regional ties.

What’s more, news from around the world has been regionally refreshing. Read this post by an on-line British news source titled Legoland Florida Coming 2011 to be World’s Biggest. This London-based piece tells readers how near Legoland will be to the other Orlando theme parks, while acknowledging the prominence it will enjoy among Florida’s best attractions. Here is the writer’s closing argument :
“Florida is already home to the biggest Disney park in the world, as well as Universal Orlando, which features two theme parks – Universal Studios Florida and Universal’s Islands of Adventure. Now no one will be able to go wrong with a vacation in the Sunshine State.”

The bottom line is that if you’re from London, Stuttgart or Tokyo, a 40-minute hop isn’t far at all to visit another first-class attraction. And you won’t know, nor will you care, that the local folks there are struggling to develop as a world “Super Region.” To you, it already is, which leads me to my point: It’s happening in spite of ourselves. But if we embrace regionalism by cooperating with our neighbors, I submit that it’ll make all the difference in the world.

Just an aside, but as we contemplate all the folks who’ll now be considering a brand new Central Florida theme park, I can’t help but ponder the question: How should we transport them throughout our region?

photo credit: Amodiovalerio Verde

photo credit: Tom Hagerty for Lakeland Local

What accounts for this discrepancy?

I’m willing to bet that it’s our news media, aka MSM, including newspapers, cable news, and broadcast news.

Continue reading  Re/Creating Tampa – The MSM makes us dumb.

My son, Li Alexius Santiago, was born at 24 weeks, and he only had a 30 percent chance of survival.

The nurses at St. Joe’s NICU told us that recording our voices and playing it for the baby would be beneficial. So, my wife and I recorded him a welcome to the world message and read him children stories. A few weeks later, I recorded and added an original song to his “playlist.”

Below is the poem/song I wrote and recorded for him. Li listened to it most days in his incubator, until he came home.

“Little Li”

Wake up is morning,
Oh please, don’t cry.
Don’t feel so lonely,
I’m right by your side.

Be strong sweet baby.
Please fight for your life.
Oh, I’ll be waiting
For you to come back.

Come back to me boy.
Come, I’ll take you home.
Come back to me boy.
Come, I’ll take you home.

You were near Heaven
That late afternoon,
But faith and prayer
Kept us near you.

Now, “mami” is waiting
For you to come home.
We’ll all be patient.
My son, I love you.

Come back to me boy.
Come, I’ll take you home.
Come back to me boy.
Come, I’ll take you home.

Until this day, when he is not feeling well, or driving us crazy, I play and sing the song for him. And until this day, it calms him down like it would in the St. Joe’s NICU.

Creating this song was interesting because the original music was a 48 second score I wrote for a friend’s independent movie. The score, titled “Sad Love Song,” was never used, but the music served as “Little Li’s” core melody.

Below you can listen to both versions: “Sad Love Song” and “Little Li”

In all honesty, yoga by itself is not too bad– stretching, reaching. Learning body movement to soft music after a hard day could be a very healthy way to build energy and relax one’s mind. The trouble I was initially having with yoga was the trouble most men have with athletic activities. With a roomful of flexible women, I wanted to show off! “If they can do that, I can do that!” What was supposed to be a personal journey of peace into compassion turned into a competition! I decided to reach too far, stretching too much. My mind was on the room and the level of the people around me rather than on my breath, body or spirit.

Once the first couple of classes broke me in, I realized that yoga was not a comparison of power or speed. Truthfully, my level of pain the next day made me admit that if yoga was a game, it was not a game I was going to win! Once I realized that most in the room did not even know I was there, I relaxed into the peace of the stretch, music and movement of the class.

I guess I share this funny little adventure because I see many of the same traps in the way people live out their religious life as the trap I fell into with yoga. When you look around your Synagogue, temple or church, how many people come to your mind that seem to be living their faith as a competition they are trying to win? The church ladies who know everyone’s business, the deacons who watch how much people put in the collection plate. People whose religious life seems to be more about keeping their level of Christianity on a score card. How many Sundays they attend, how many souls they have saved. People are not just keeping their own score but trying to tally your score as well!

It sounds silly when you first think about it. After all, how could people think that God would choose to love them more because of some kind of personal score? However, when I delve a little deeper into myself, I see the same sin that traps others also enters my own mind. How many flat tires have I fixed thinking to myself, “What did I do to deserve this?” I have to admit deep down there is a church voice which was ingrained in me long ago that says, “If you do what is right, God will watch over me extra close.”

I think this is the paradox that all religious people walk in; the paradox of faith is wrapped up in the first being last and the last being first. All major religions have this one truth in common; the poor, broken and innocent are always named as being closer to God. It is the paradox of the Beatitudes, it is the message Jesus shared with the disciples when he told them to enter the kingdom like a little child. The Buddha did not experience Zen until he became one with the broken community outside his father’s kingdom. Allah showed the light on his people only when they stood in the poorness of their spirit. I call this challenge of faith a paradox because study, academics, money, power are all gifts of love, objectives of man as they mature, stabilize and root themselves for the prosperity of their families.

I believe the answer to this puzzle is wrapped up in the same lesson I learned in my yoga class. The point is not to be in competition with the room around you. Peace and growth come from attempting to be one with your body, mind and spirit. Yoga, love, God and Christ observe no score card, their peace comes from opening yourself to where you are at the moment. You cannot be more of a Christian than your spirit is ready for any more than your arm can be more flexible then your body will allow. The arch in your neighbor’s “downward dog” will not cause you to lose balance any more than the amount your neighbor puts in a collection plate will cause you to sin.

I wish sometimes church would end the same way yoga class does with the word “Namaste”. This closing blessing at the end of every yoga class is accompanied with a bow that simply means “I greet the God in you”. Wouldn’t it be great if we ended our religious services by bowing to those around us with the word “Namaste” or “I greet the God I see working and living through you”?

A year ago, one of my professors said a comment that will live with me forever: “Throughout history, kings should have had more writers and poets than architects and sculptors because books have outlasted most tall buildings and beautiful sculptures from their respective empires.”

History, for one reason or another, seems to be best kept through literature. Because of this important factor, modern societies seem to fear what literature should and should not make it to their homes and minds. But, in this country, there is one big problem with keeping literature away from homes and minds—freedom of speech.

Catherine Lavallée-Welch, associate librarian at the University of South Florida Polytechnic (USF Poly), is leading a small revolution in the mostly conservative (863), and this year, she has help from students, faculty, administrators and locals, too.

Lavallée-Welch and the USF Poly Library are hosting the second annual Banned Books “Read Out” event; which “are common” during Banned Books Week, said Lavellée-Welch.

This year, fifteen “enthusiastic readers” will be reading-out-loud from banned and/or challenged books of their choosing to willing listeners from USF Poly and Polk State University. The event is free, and it has “received shows of support,” said Lavallée-Welch, “and a lot of good comments” from people around campus.

Lavallée-Welch’s goal is “to bring attention to freedom of expression, the importance of access to information and the freedom to read. To make people, who may have never thought their freedom of expression could be endangered, realize that it’s possible it could be taken away from them.”

In a country built with freedom of speech as its number one priority, I, too, feel is important that we pay attention to what literature is being challenged and/or banned; but most importantly, why. Why would anyone want to keep others from gaining new information and expanding their knowledge? And in the long run, how does this affect freedom of speech and the United States in general?

Because I, too, have many questions about this issue, I am forming part of this event Tuesday, September 29 from 11:15 a.m. – 1 p.m. and 4:15 p.m. – 6 p.m. at the terrace, outside the USF Poly Library. And, I hope to see familiar faces, meet new faces and engage in intellectual arguments about the books, the event and the people trying to ban literature.

For more information about this event, visit the USF Poly Library Blog. To see the complete 2008-09 banned books (pdf) list press here. And, I invite you read my full Q&A with Mrs. Lavallée-Welch here to get a better idea of how important this issue really is for all of us alike.

For you singles out there reading this, what are the “deal breaker” statements that a date could make or has made, where inwardly you wanted to throw up a red flag and go home?

I decided for this week’s article to take my “deal breaker” question on the road.

Ginger, age 31, at Beacon Road Starbucks: “In the first hour of a date, the guy I was with asked if I would be his ‘girlfriend’!” Tom, age 36, at Tampa Church Street: “Either, so what kind of car do you drive or so how much do you make?” Tami, age 23, in Ybor City: “I had a guy on a first date once ask me where I bought my purse—just saying, red flag!” Sarah, age 24, in Ybor City: “I once had a guy after three hours of our first date ask if I had a sister or girlfriend I could bring on our next date!” Bill, age 42, from a bar in Channelside said, “My red flag is when a woman tells me in the first 15 minutes of dating, ‘by the way, I’m Christian’.” He said it is a red flag because usually at that point in the conversation the date begins to probe and judge him.

It is kind of funny that one of the most important questions and commentaries on someone’s life, their Christianity, can sometimes be wielded like a sword to become a major deal breaker.

Keeping with the theme of “deal breaker” I asked my Homeless Prayer Support group if they had, or have ever had, deal breaking decisions they had to make for their families. One woman said she knew it was finally time to leave her husband when he stopped hitting her and started threatening their child. No job, no place to live, and no family nearby, she simply said, “Even for better or worse, it was still a deal breaker…and we had to go!” One Hispanic man in the group said that his deal breaker was when he found out his employer was not sending checks to his family as he promised he would.

It is true that Christ says we must forgive our neighbor seventy times seven. And yes, Jesus asks his disciples to turn the other cheek when they are struck. But Jesus also asked Satan to get behind him and turned the temple change tables when he saw his father’s home being desecrated as a market. I believe that there are deal breakers that Christ instills in our souls. I believe they are words, ideas and actions that lead us away from love. Love of ourselves, love of others and anything that would lead our gaze from the love of our creator.

So what are your deal breakers?

As an (863) Hispanic, I am proud of our accomplishments in Central Florida and around the country. I am also proud of what the University of South Florida Polytechnic (USF Poly) and Polk State College (PSC) are doing to celebrate these accomplishments.

From Sept. 15 – Sept. 19, both colleges shared these accomplishments with their “Diversity Partnership Multicultural Week,” which was composed of the “Lakeland Multicultural Trade Show,” “The State of Diversity in Central Florida Panel Discussion” and the “Third Annual Diversity Conference.” All of these events took place at the new USF Poly/PSC campus.

Yesterday, the “Greater Lakeland Multicultural 2009 Festival” took place at the Magnolia building in downtown Lakeland.

Today, The Polk Museum of Art is closing these festivities with their annual Family Day event. This year’s theme is “Going Green,” and it will take place from 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Admission is free.

In addition to “The Diversity Partnership Multicultural Week,” PSC is having a month-long art exhibit in their Lakeland campus. The exhibit, currently in its second year, is displaying art works from past and current PSC students.

Sergio Ayala, Cristian Bruno, Jessica Jordan and Ed Nieves are current Liberal Art students at PSC. Among these great artists, Samuel Romero, a Polk Community College graduate, is a teacher assistant at Florida Southern College, and he recently received his Master’s degree in Fine Arts from the School of Art Institute of Chicago.

Although a small exhibit, the talent is far from being small. All of these artists have unique styles from photography to classic oil on canvas, and they promise to share the colorfulness and individualities of our culture.

The exhibit’s official opening night was this past Tuesday, Sept. 15, and it is scheduled to be opened until Thursday, Oct. 15. The gallery’s show time is from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

I invite you to visit the event and support local talented artists from Central Florida. And if you have a family, then I will see you today at The Polk Museum of Art’s “Family Day 2009: Going Green” event.

Like always: Be blessed, balanced and beautiful.

With the anniversary of the September 11 attacks just passing, I am sharing this because fear can only control us so much. Yes, it can keep people in line, and yes, it can make people act in irrational ways, but I welcome to you to read and think about the power of positivity.

I want you to keep in mind that mankind’s good nature and nature’s rule over our planet is a much stronger power than inflicting fear in people’s minds, hearts and lives. With this thought, I leave it up to you to decide how you want to lead your life and the lives of your loved ones.

Do not let men or his word accompany you because he does not know any better than you do. Do not fear heat and torture; fear the vanishing of love. Do not declare yourselves just to be able to wake up in the morning and not have to feel guilty for being a human being. Feel the strength of beauty and the energy that environs it; just like electrons to atoms. If we let each other rule our minds, we will never find peace.

Do not fight your causes for the wrong reasons and use “Holy Names” to express your hatred. Love! Because without it, you are Hell. Love! Because without it, you are ignorance. Understand love and you will find self; after self, comes self-respect; and after all findings, you will understand, live and adore for the right reasons.

Let us forget for a minute about death and concentrate on the walks, the laughter, and not the traditions in specific, but the actions because even then we were all still men.

All of this naming said, last week I found myself feeling down for no good reason. Work was good, church is going well, my friendships and community are about status quo. I had not been drinking, eating or really doing anything outside my normal routines all week. Yet for some reason I had this dark, empty feeling in the pit of my stomach throughout the week. Initially, as I attempted to name and explore my feelings through meditation and prayer, I went about it by trying to figure out if I was doing something, eating something, or caught up in something different. I often find that if I take the time to stop and look at what I am doing, I can usually name the thorn in my heel. However, last week, try as I might, I could not figure out what the quiet wrestling I had in the pit of my stomach was coming from.

Strangely, it was only in a fit of escapism that I stopped my inner search and jumped on Facebook and Myspace, thinking maybe some mindless fluff time might allow me an emotional break. It was there that I saw the comments and notes from old friends which reminded me what I was experiencing. What I had not realized was that last week marked exactly four years since Hurricane Katrina. It had been four years since my life was turned upside down, four years since I left friends, abandoning my stuff, community and even my church.

What I had been experiencing last week was what psychologists call a “deep memory” or an “anniversary reaction” to a traumatic event. Somehow my body, soul and mind was inwardly aching around the anniversary date that I had thought my mind and life had long since dealt with. I thought I had long mourned Katrina, healed from it, and put it neatly behind me. The good news though was that simply in taking the time to name the ache, the underlying emptiness began to dissipate. As soon as I realized the root of my emptiness, I was able to liturgically address the words my heart needed to speak again. Responding to Facebook, Myspace comments and mail, I connected with countless friends. In truth, they were friends which had become ghosts and memories, people and places I usually only recalled through foods, smells and certain songs.

I call this reconnection process –liturgy–because I believe that is what a good church liturgy does for people. A church liturgy has so many important pieces which help a congregation to name moments in their lives. Following the Invitation or Opening, there is the time of individual and community confession, absolution and reconciliation. The gospel is read before the sermon because liturgically it grounds the message which is to be shared in the sermon. And finally, there is the freedom of a sending-forth benediction.

A liturgical church calendar is important not just because it acts as a yearly reminder of the life of Christ, but also because it is a way to name the changing seasons and moments of our lives. The sacrament of communion is nothing more than the naming of a community supper, a meal that acts as a reconnection between self, church and Christ. A baby or adult is claimed by a community even as they claim the church in the liturgical baptism. Liturgy is one way individuals and communities can name the inner light and darkness they are experiencing inside.

When I was a hospital chaplain, one of the toughest liturgies, prayers and visits I participated in was a deceased infant blessing. Usually a miscarriage or still birth, I would find myself holding the hands of an struggling parent or parents with broken dreams. Sometimes the scene was a young mother simply alone in the emptiness and loss. Other times it was whole families surrounding a couple struggling through love and loss. Either way, one of my prayerful suggestions for parents was to take the time to name the child they were mourning. What counselors, ministers and families have found is that it is so much more grounding, liturgically, to mourn a child rather then the idea of a child. By naming the child, the parents somehow found they felt inwardly more allowed to legitimize their inner brokenness.

One of the gifts of Christian liturgy is that it unites the brokenness and traumas in our lives through Christ and the cross. Christ is one name we can use as a bridge between trauma and God.

What times, places, smells, tastes and sounds do you need to liturgically name in your life? Are there anniversary moments that pass your life by because you find yourself too busy to recognize them? I guess the message this week is that even as you’re naming moments and anniversaries, you do not have to build liturgies alone. Do not be afraid to reach out to friends, community, church or a counselor to retell the stories that have shaped your life.

Matthew 5:4 – Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Psalm 31:9 – Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief.

First was Pep Boys’ parking lot. Man we had fun. A whole bunch of teenagers making noise in the middle of a crowded parking lot. I still wish we could play those type of shows, but the support disappeared. Really, the support always disappears. Let us see: We had Evolution Records, Woodpecker Records, Frenzi, Johnson Sound, Dirt Star, Downtown Lakeland, Florida Southern College, and Rage of the Needle, which are all dead and have been for quite some time. These places were the best! All ages, cheap to get in, and a surprise was always in store. (Once in a while an amazing touring band would stop by and rock everyone’s faces off!)

As we all grew up, the venues did too, but their fate seemed to be destined. MB3 at Carpenter’s, The Mad Hatter, Lillian’s Music Store, and Winners Circle all had a great chance at becoming something, but once again they all died, and so did the local music scene. Seeing all these places disappear kept my head running¾why, why are they all disappearing? And it finally hit me, we did not have a real music scene. We did not have people that were interested in music making and changing their surroundings like many musicians had done in the past. We just had a whole bunch of teenagers competing for popularity. Whatever band had the most amount of friends had the best shows; and that really made me want to quit music. Actually, I did. Most of us did.

But not for long.

Now, a new wave on musicians and venues are running in Lakeland again. All of us hoping to finally bring local entertainment into mainstream Lakeland. All of us just wanting to have a good time, share our thoughts and talents, and engage people a little while trying to sell enough merchandise to keep it all running along. From the death of several promoters and venues, we now have Conness Productions and Central Florida Entertainment booking hundreds of acts around Central Florida. In Lakeland, we have Doc’s Place, the new Winners Circle, DC Sportsbar, Mojo’s, and even the Polk Theater is becoming more supportive towards the local music scene by including us to their event cycles.

There is new hope that we can all have a stage or two to play and share, but that cloud of the past still hunts me at times. I guess all I can do is stay optimistic about our current music scene and keep hoping that Lakeland will finally understand and support its own musicians and artists. Until then, feel free to catch me and my friends making noise in one of the live venues around town.

Be blessed, balanced, and beautiful.

For information about what is happening around Lakeland, please visit these sites:

http://www.myspace.com/sarahsmiles321
http://entertainingfl.com/
http://www.docsplacelivemusic.com/
http://www.myspace.com/mojoslakeland
http://eventful.com/lakeland/events

This afternoon, the players at Joker Marchant Stadium looked younger than usual.

More than 150 of the nation’s top high school baseball players have gathered in Lakeland to put their talent on display today through Tuesday at the annual East Coast Pro Showcase.

The Detroit Tigers and five other major league organizations sponsored teams this week. Scouts lead the players through skill testing including batting and infield practice. The six teams also play games each day.

Organized by Major League Baseball scouts, the event is not open to the public. However, you can see a game between the Tigers and the Astros televised live by Bright House Sports Network at 7 p.m. Monday.

Shane Rowland
More than 200 professional scouts and 100 college coaches are on hand to watch players like Shane Rowland, 17, a senior at Tampa Catholic High School. “It’s awesome,” says Rowland, returned this year for his second showcase. He plays on the Tigers, a team of players from throughout Florida. “I know a lot of these guys, so this is a good chance to play with them again and get to know some other kids on the team.”

Entering his senior year, Rowland isn’t sure whether he’ll sign with a major league team or go to college. “I’m open to either college or the [Major league Baseball] draft,” he says. “Whichever comes first.” If he chooses college, he’s looking at Vanderbilt, Georgia tech, Arizona State, Miami or South Carolina.

Dylan Brown from Clayton, N.C., says playing with wooden bats instead of aluminum requires an adjustment. “I try for more of a line-drive swing,” he says. Attending his first showcase, he says, “I love it!”

Nick Castellanos & Family
Along with players and scouts, many family members made their way to Lakeland for the event. Jorge and Michelle Castellanos drove up from Davie, Fla., to cheer for their son Nick. The 17-year-old senior from Archbishop McCarthy High School is playing in his first showcase. Michelle, a Detroit native, found it exciting to see her son play in a Tigers uniform.

Other parents offered advice to their sons. As Jake Foley of Port Charlotte left the field after Saturday’s game, his mother told him, “Eat some vegetables. And stay away from the junk food!”

Yordy Cabrera
Players with ties to Polk County at this year’s showcase include Lakeland High’s Yordy Cabrera, who participated last year; Auburndale pitcher Kyle Ryan; former Lakeland catcher Eric Arce; and former Bartow pitcher Karsten Whitson.

(More East Coast Pro Showcase photos by Tom Hagerty)

photo credit: Tom Hagerty

The Beatles sang, “All you need is love.” Joe Cocker sang, “Love lifts us up where we belong.” Shakespeare wrote, “The course of true love never did run smooth. Love is a familiar. Love is a devil. There is no evil angel but Love.”

What is it about this mysterious feeling, love, that has the power to unite hearts while at the same time incite wars? Every religion, community and language throughout time has had a word that represented love. Love is an attachment, an affection, attitude; it is fallible and infallible, it can be given and returned, mutually or one-way. While describing all the spiritual gifts under heaven to his disciples, Jesus exclaimed “…but the greatest of these is love… If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” (1Cor 13)

Although I agree with the movie “Moulin Rouge” when it said, “Love is a many splendored thing,” as a single person I use the term LOVE freely with regard to my friends, family and God. Love, as a romantic term sometimes seem like a very toxic or loaded term. I do not write this to appear dismissive or cynical about love. On the contrary, I have seen beautiful partnerships, unions and marriages over my years as a counselor and chaplain. For example, my parents have a beautiful and mutual relationship,and my grandparents were together to their dying day. Some of my best friends are either married or in long-lasting relationships, but I’ve also seen the word “love” used as power or control word by both churches, families and communities. It’s almost as if a single person is seen as a second-class church member or citizen.

The down side as a single male in Lakeland, Florida or as I like to call it, Couplesville, USA, I often find myself hanging out with friends as the dreaded third wheel. Some couples are fun to hang out with, just friends going to a show, concert or grabbing dinner and drinks. But then there are the couples who are not happy unless you are stuck on their “perfect love,” wanting me to be stuck in the same type committed relationship handcuffs they are. These are usually the same couples that cannot keep their hands off each other and constantly tell their single friends how one or the other of them is fulfilling all their needs. These are the couples that are constantly setting me up with someone or telling me, “When you stop looking…she will come…then you can be happy and feel complete like the life and love we have!”

As nauseating as that is, the absolute worst third wheel situation is when the couple I am hanging with is fighting, and they want to put me in the middle or to take sides. To those couples I want to say ,”Thank you. Watching your relationship reminds me how liberating, simple and honest my single life is!”

I suppose I wanted to write this little treaties on love this week first and foremost to remind couples, families, churches, communities and myself that God has a loving intention and purpose for singles as well as couples with regard commitment. I like the idea of “two becoming one” as much as the next guy, but the God-sized holes in people’s lives will never be filled by a human relationship. As religious people, anything mankind put before God : money, sex, marriage is sinful in that it will always miss the mark and leave them feeling empty. I believe in relationships, friendships, families and churches that unite people in love. But I have found the only love which is going to complete me is one between myself and God.

The Apostle Paul went as far as to tell ministers and missionaries that if they are not already married, they might be better off single if they want to have enough time and energy to spread the gospel.“Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.” (1 Cor 7:8-9)

Once again, I have nothing against marriages, unions or family values in our religious communities. I simply want to make the point that God may call some people to make love to the world — instead of just one other person. And there should be a loving place in our churches and communities for singles as well as couples.

These are just my thoughts, I would love to hear your thoughts.

My intention in asking the Holy Spirit to intercede is also an invitation for God to use my life to speak words of hope, even when the words do not seem to be in me. There is so much hurt in the world, I sometimes need help to know what things I am capable of handling and which things are too big for me and the truth of my humanity to handle. As a counselor I have to constantly decide which lives would most benefit from the time I could spend with them. As a friend I am often trying to decide which relationships are going to bear fruit and which ones are simply toxic. Life sometimes feels as though it is moving faster by the day — the older I get. I wonder how and if I can make a positive difference in someone’s life.

With the challenge of discerning God’s will in mind, the American protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr’s Serenity Prayer has always had a close place to my heart.

“God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
The courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference. ”

The prayer has become such an inspiration to me that I recently added it as a part of a sleeve tattoo on my right arm. (One day I will do a whole article regarding tattoos as religious icons and historical memory holders.) But for now you will just have to take my word. I have the Serenity Prayer on my arm and I love it.

I have shared all this background and build up with you simply to tell you about what happened to me last Friday night in Ybor. After a long week of work in Lakeland, I sometimes try to escape to the freedom and anonymity of Ybor City. I do not know if I would prescribe this outlet to anyone else, but I find I am the most useful and attentive to others’ needs during the week when I allow myself time to relax and get away.

Somewhere in the midst of my evening in Ybor City, I was in the center of a crowded standing-room only Parrot bar. It was a night of flirting, laughing and letting go of stress with friends. All of a sudden a gentleman from seemingly nowhere walked over to me, looked me straight in the eyes and said, “You are a message from God. I have to go home!”

After some discussion – right there in the center of the bar – it turns out that the man had been four years sober, and tonight he had slipped up and ended up drinking in Ybor. Apparently when he saw my Serenity Prayer tattoo, he interpreted it as the voice of God telling him to stop his drinking and go back home to his wife and children. The Serenity Prayer was a prayer he had resisted for years at his AA meetings. He said seeing the prayer on my arm allowed him to recite it, right when he needed to the most.

This moment was such a good reminder to me that we can all be tools and voices for God’s hope and peace, sometimes even despite the brokenness and best intentions of sin and humanity.

“And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weaknesses; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Romans 8:26-27

photo credit: Chris Craig for MetroI4News.com