March 26, 1999<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I arrived at CBC, I asked James, \u201cDid Jesus ever have a friend?\u201d You know how James would raise his long eyebrows. He did that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh sure, he had followers and disciples, but did he have a real buddy? I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNope.\u201d James said. And in his normal wise sage manner, James said, \u201cBut it\u2019s always lonely at the top.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYeah, but it\u2019s lonely at the bottom, too, and at the bottom you at least got company.\u201d I\u2019m glad that I\u2019m at the bottom!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I first came to CBC about 24 years ago, I quickly learned something about Gary from Brenda when she came over to our house in Daly City. She caught me picking lint off the floors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said, \u201cMy dad does that too!\u201d Before she saw me doing that, Brenda probably thought that her dad was the only strange lint-picker in the world. You see, I kinda helped Brenda get over what she thought was a deep, dark secret of her dad until she saw that there really is another one just as compulsive! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gary, you have company at the bottom picking up lint off the floors. There are many of us in the world. In fact, you and I should organize a club named \u201cFelix\u201d after the Odd Couple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think the real reason that we are so compulsive about picking up lint is not that we are \u201csuper squeaking clean addicts,\u201d but that we are actually doing God\u2019s work. You see this \u201cstuff\u201d\u2014gray, fuzzy, linty stuff is mainly made up of exfoliated skin and meteorites\u2014disintegrated as they hit the earth\u2019s atmosphere. Tons of it hit the earth\u2019s atmosphere every day. So, in other words, what you and I have been picking up is mostly our family and stardust. Robert Fulghum calls it \u201ccosmic compost\u201d and claims that if you gather enough of this stuff, put it in a damp, dark place, mushrooms will grow in it. And then, if you eat the mushrooms, you see stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I have gotten you an \u201cOfficial Cosmic Compost Collector! This is not just a lint remover. I have one too. When we have collected enough of this stuff, let\u2019s try to grow some of those cosmic mushrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It may be lonely at the bottom, but at least we got company there. And very few of us can go all the way in life alone. Dean Martin once said, \u201cEverybody needs somebody sometime.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus said, \u201cThis is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one\u2019s life for one\u2019s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Happy birthday, Gary. And may God bless you, me, and everyone here as we get down on our knees as friends picking up cosmic compost!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
March 26, 1999 When I arrived at CBC, I asked James, \u201cDid Jesus ever have a friend?\u201d You know how James would raise his long eyebrows. He did that. \u201cOh