Peers and Parents

No Pop Outs

Memories of the move of our family from land-locked Akron, Ohio to ocean-front Miami, Florida in 1955 are vaguely remote to nonexistent. The reason for the move though is still as plain as a salt life south Florida day.  My father, Harold Bosworth,  had been promoted to overseeing the opening of a new Allied Department Store property named Jordan Marsh.  It was located on Biscayne Boulevard at the junction of the 36th street Causeway. The cutting edge retail location included a swimming pool and a marina. The fact that  "The Miami Herald" was catacorner a block away was not insignificant either.

One of the great benefits of having a father who was head of a big department store was that the personnel always recognized you when you came into the building.  They treated us like royalty and the graciousness was genuine.  I always knew my dad was revered by the folks who worked for him.

There were drawbacks however because of this relationship. As a young boy becomes a young man, peer pressure mounts and the desire to conform and be accepted is never more important than in fashion.  I wanted to be cool!  There were definitely symbols of "cool" and in particular fashion statements.

Mom was adamant about us buying our clothing at the store.  We had a great discount program because of dad. The peer pressure demanded that we wear Bass Weejun penny loafers, Canterbury

belts and bleeding madras shirts with button down collars. The parent pressure demanded that we buy from dad's store.  When the brand item could not be found at such store, many a household battle ensued.

A young boy who lives in the Atlantic Ocean off South Beach in all his spare time dreams of having his own surf board. Surfboard chic was and will always be hand-formed.  I was elated when my dad told me his store would begin carrying surf boards! I remember the first time seeing the boards in Sporting Goods my excitement drained away as I ran my fingers down the thin edges only to feel the seam that screamed "pop-out", the moniker for a non hand-formed board.  Of course the store would buy the factory mass produced versions as they were conducive to better profit.

And guess what! I lost the ensuing battle at the homestead. I ended up with that pop-out surfboard and have had few greater possessions in my lifetime! Do you know that my peers never liked me any less and a few of them asked if they could ride it!

Surf's up at the South Beach Pier! 

Amen Brother

Bradford Bosworth

May 2016

Called Back to Balance.

Where's the balance? 

When I was a boy growing up in Miami, Florida the world was filled with drama.  It was the drama of fear, a horror film of Hitchkockesque proportions. A young boy's years from ages 9 to 12 on their own are tumultuous; innocence and fantasy fade morphing with the changing body chemistry into
manhood; that unforgiving place of false premise and uncertainty.  Add to this volatile combination a mad world and a life trending can go way off balance.

My insulated child's life was not totally buffered from the ordinary events of the day.  In south Florida what maybe were ordinary events to the rest of the U.S. were extraordinary for our families; the first example being the failed Bay of Pigs. I do not remember much about this event but I know now that it was the beginning of a different sort of atmosphere in our neighborhood.  Where my memory starts to get clearer is when I remember finding myself routinely under my desk at Morningside Elementary school with an obnoxious siren wailing in the background. I believe at the age of nine we have natural built in buffers and modulators against stress that makes it easier to absorb the insanity of the world. Perhaps it is because we know we can go back home to Mom and Dad? Though I cannot imagine what mom and dad were going through!

These Civil Defense air raid drills were the result of the Cold War being waged between the world's two superpowers, the USA and the USSR, which finally moved to the back porch of Miami with the advent of the Cuban Missile Crisis.  History says that the two leaders Kennedy and Khrushchev had the exact right personalities to find enough balance to save the world from nuclear annihilation. I would call this divine balance.

I am not sure if Harold and Jeanne, our parents, considered that they were providing respite for my brothers Marty, Hal and I by sending us to Camp Rockmont for boys (blog post:East of Lake Eden, March 2015)  in Black Mountain, N.C.   I always believed it was because they needed a break from us.  Nevertheless, the camp years (1959-1964)  for me at least, gave me a different taste of faith in God from what I was used to from our Trinity Episcopal Church in Miami. These summers provided a balance to the world of close proximity to Cuba.

In our summer camp world in the scenic mountains of western North Carolina, there was a presence that permeated all of our activities.  It was no coincidence that a stones throw from our Black Mountain location was and is a small hamlet known as Montreat. This village gave humanity Billy Graham. All I can say is that whatever the effects on me of the anxious world of south Florida, the summer influence of Rev. Billy Graham provided a calming balance.

I am sure it is this influence that kept me from wandering off the path to a point of no return. I recently stumbled upon a Charlotte Observer press clipping from November, 1978. (Copy posted below this post). After about a decade and a half  I found myself face to face with Rev. Graham. It was at a point where I had turned my back on my Creator. I was fully invested in the world as a budding Public Relations executive at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  My job this day was coordinator for a Press Conference for a 60th Birthday Gala for Dr. Graham. This event is another example of God calling me back to balance. It was not the effect of any Graham spoken word but the presence of the man I remember. Peace and balance, that is all there is.

So grateful to have been here during the same age as this divine messenger.

Amen Brother

Bradford Bosworth
May, 2016

*****

Copy from 1978 Press Clipping, The Charlotte Observer

Graham fete

to leave him

dry, not high

      The Rev. Billy Graham will cele-

brate his 60th birthday in fine but

 dry style this evening among near-

   ly 600 male well-wishers at Meyers

                                                       Park Country Club.

  "There were supposedly only

                                                       400 engraved invitations," said

   Brad Bosworth, who handled press

    arrangements for the 7:30 p.m. din-

ner party. "But somehow it bal-

                                                       looned to almost 600.

      The only women invited to the

                                                        black-tie event were Graham's

wife, his mother and a radio sta-

                                                        tion reporter.

    Following a "cocktail party

without cocktails," Bosworth said,

will be a four course dinner includ-

ing prime rib of beef. Fifteen local

and national business and clerical

leaders are scheduled to speak be-

tween courses, and Bosworth pre-

dicted they would finish by 10 pm

        Among the out-of-town speakers

will be Dr. Jimmy Allen of San

Antonio, Texas, president of the

   Southern Baptist Convention: Don-

ald M. Kendall of Purchase, N.Y.,

                                                       president of PepsiCo;  Carl  H.

 Lindner of Cincinnati, president

and chairman of American Finan-

cial Corporation, and Dr. Harold

Lindsell of Wheaton, Ill., editor

emeritus of "Christianity Today."

******

    

Fill 'er Up

Leave No Room

Recently I went on a walk in the woods with a friend.  Not a leisurely walk in the park, this was a hike. I am not an avid nor experienced hiker at least not in recent years.  This excursion was the first time on this particular trail so there was some unfamiliarity as part of the baggage. To top it off I added about five pounds of back pack weight with essentials like snacks, water and rain accessories.

The trek was between six and seven miles in a heavily wooded canyon with scenic bluffs and  majestic waterfalls.  As the day got longer on the trip home fatigue set in.  My friend Donna and I began to get tired.  The forces of gravity began to take a toll physically and most dangerously mentally.

At one point we started to think of the people close to us who are suffering unique and complex challenges.  And we prayed for them out loud, each of us.  This act took us out of our own tendencies to feel sorry for our present condition.  It put things in proper perspective for our situation.

I believe we have deep spiritual reservoirs and those places can be filled with the self pity of  material  hungry, angry, lonesome, tired (H.A.L.T.s) or we can fill them with the spiritual of thankfulness. 

When we fill ourselves up with gratitude there is no room for self pity!

My Gratitude List

Just for Today

hot coffee, ripe bananas

clean underwear, cool morning

lingering moon, rumbling Harley

Holy Spirit,

the dog with tail  up

snug boots, grocery list

healthy daughters, God's Love

a friend named Donna

amazing saving Grace

teachable minds ,servant hearts

butter pecan & golden oreos

holding a little hand

Amen Children of God

Bradford Bosworth

May,2016

Banana Bread Birthday Ministry

Soul Food from the Heart

My sixtyfourth birthday was this past weekend.  It was a watershed moment for me,  a date I had been thinking about for a long time. When I was 12 years old my father Harold B. Bosworth died of heart failure just prior to his sixty fourth birthday.  He died suddenly a long way from home. 

I am writing about it because the experience from a child's eyes laid a footing for the foundation of my life. My stand out memories from this seminal event flow in vivid recollection.

- Standing on Miami Shores Community Center's practice field with my pee-wee football team watching the train pass by that was carrying my mom and dad to New York for a business conference.

-Answering the upstairs phone in my brother Marty's room simultaneously with my Aunt Betty(see "Majestic Messengers" post on this blog) and hearing dad's boss Bill Ruben say, "Betty things are not so good up here, Harold passed away this morning." I heard the phone drop and Aunt Betty wail.

-Riding in the back seat of the funeral procession limo and looking out the window seeing my friends with their families.

- Our Trinity Episcopal Church filled like I have never seen it before just beyond the parking lot of the Jordan Marsh that my Dad ran.

I am not sure for how long it has been important for me to reach 64, probably since I got sober and stopped trying to kill myself.  Maybe it came from looking back on some of my youthful behavior and realizing what great odds I had beaten just to become a mature adult.

I was angry at my father for along time.  I blamed him for conceiving me at such an age that it would deprive me of his influence and council in later years.  I missed being able to take advantage of his great wisdom and business sense.

By outliving my father I broke a cycle as his father had also died when Harold was a young man.  By braking this cycle I have started a new one where I can share my wisdom with my wonderful daughters.  I can be an example to them as they grow and God willing for my grandchildren some day.

It was not just the age milestone that made this birthday special it was all the people in my life now and all the people God has placed as guides along the way.  We all have these guides some whose names we know and some we know not yet.

One who is a guide to many inside of our Smyrna First UMC and outside in the community is David.
And his banana bread is out of this world.

Amen Brother

Bradford Bosworth
May 2016

Friends in Low Places

Low Sunday Praises

Over the past few months I have learned that a gentleman who works in the same business as me and also owns a Harley-Davidson, is an ordained Minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He moonlights as a Pastor at Brookhaven Christian Church in Atlanta.  I am convinced now that he is around to- as they say - "keep me honest."  For it is in the business environment where I struggle in my faith and spirituality the most. Knowing that David has one of those "Rev's" in front of his name makes me more aware of my actions.More importantly, I had known and worked with David for a few months before he revealed to me his credentials.  My only hope now is that my pre-knowledge behavior does not differ greatly from my post- knowledge behavior! 

A few weeks ago he alerted me to the fact that he would be delivering the message for the 11 am service at his church on Sunday April 3rd. I quickly put it in my calendar to attend. I also had to recruit a replacement for me as an Usher at our Smyrna First UMC 11am service. Easy enough I thought.

In early March I was part of the servant team on Men's North Georgia Walk to Emmaus #176. Over the course of that experience I met a young man named De'Shun. Spending much time with him, I learned  this new friend is a Divinity student serving an Internship at Midway United Methodist in Alpharetta, Georgia.

In the course of a few short weeks I realized a friendship with two men who would be Priests and along with me and many more - members of the priesthood of all believers!

Holy Week I received a text from "D" as I like to call De'Shun. He was delivering the April 3rd message at Midway! I was joyed for him but hard pressed to figure out how could both of these friends, he and David,  be preaching on the same day?  I wanted to be there to listen.  I wonder at God's timing and am convinced there are no coincidences only miracles!

Fortunately "D" would preach an 8:30am message at the beautiful old Church (above) which is actually closer to Cumming than Alpharetta.  I would be able hear him then travel to Brookhaven for David's talk and on top of that blessing have a nice spiritually lifting motorcycle ride!

I experienced some anxiousness as the date approached. I was second guessing my decision to try to accomplish attendance at two Church services over a course of 60+ miles in the same morning. With an already full schedule, I was beginning to have doubts. How does it happen that these two friends would end up in the pulpit on the very same day? All along I knew certainly I needed to be there for both.

At the Midway early service I learned that this Sunday April 3rd (First Sunday after Easter) was also know in many Churches as "Associate Pastor Day" and that many folks like D'Shun would be honing their preaching skills on this day. In fact, I would learn later that, at our SFUMC, the Youth Ministries Pastor- Leslie- spoke at our  9:55 Alive service. I also learned from the gracious and hospitable members of Midway how much they love D'Shun! More importantly I became aware that "D's" sermon was his proverbial "swan song" at this Church as he moves into the next phase of his Faith Walk. He did a great job! The Holy Spirit showed me how important it was that I was there.

Before going to Brookhaven, I met up with my good friend Donna and we rode together for this service. I have told David about Donna and how one of the highlights of our relationship is holding hands in Church! He had said that his Mom and Dad like to hold hands in church. They would also be there to hear his message after driving from their home in Florida.

It just so happens  that David was preaching from the Lectionary and he taught us that this message from the Gospel of John, Chapter 20  is unique to the rotating 3 year Revised Common Lectionary in that it falls every year in the week following Easter. Of course it contains the story of the Apostle Thomas after the resurrection. You know about doubting Thomas, right? David said, " Thomas got a bad rap."  His sermon was titled, "Can you believe it?"

One other thing I learned from Rev David was that it is common in many protestant Churches that the first Sunday after Easter is known as "Low Sunday" because it usually the lowest attendance day of the year.  

I am grateful I have friends in low places.

Amen

Bradford Bosworth

April,2016