Yom Kippur

Saturday was strange. It all began for me at 6:30 a.m., when I went outside my hotel in Manhattan (the Marriott East on 49th and Lexington) to catch my ride to LaGuardia Airport. There were policemen and barracades everywhere. People were acting, well, not really afraid....but maybe a little paranoid mixed with a tiny bit of fear. I felt as if I were in the middle of the Buffalo Springfield song which has the line "Paranoia strikes deep.....Into your life it will creep.....It starts when you're always afraid.....Step outta line, the men come, and take you away...." What I didn't know was the United Nations, which was only a few blocks away, were about to begin their meetings. And the President of Iran was coming. (Glad I got the heck out of there!)

When I got back to Spartanburg, I drove straight to our church which was in the midst of celebrating "Apple Annie Days". This is a two day fall festival event to raise money for our in-state mission project....giving the transition house at the Methodist Children's Home in Columbia a complete face-lift with new plumbing, wiring, etc. The sun was baking outside, and my wife got sunburned doing her chore, which was monitoring the jumbo air-filled slide and jumping pillow for the kids. There was barbeque, bands, an auction, church yard sale, an auto show and....well...lots of stuff.

Our son had his first flag-football game, and he intercepted two passes (woo hoo!) He almost ran one back for a touchdown! Our oldest daughter got a nail in her tire in Charleston, where she goes to graduate school, which was a major pain and inconvenience for her.

Also yesterday, I found out that my very good friend who has bone cancer, which is not progressing fast...but rather is progressing at a RACING speed, now does not know many people who visit him. I am just sick about this.

And all of this happened yesterday on Yom Kippur.

Yes, yesterday was Yom Kippur. Actually, Yom Kippur began on Friday Night and ran through Saturday Night.

Yom Kippur is the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. It is the Day of Atonement. Atonement means "At One Ment"....becoming one again...becoming whole again.

It is a day of forgiveness and starting over. Of putting the past in the past and moving on. Of atoning for past sins. On the day of atonement, a goat was taken to the west gate of Jerusalem and put outside the gate. It was called the "Scape-Goat"....and yes, that is where we get the name. The scape goat took the sins of all the people on his shoulder, and was sent out so that the people had no sin anymore. You can see the symbolism as it relates to Jesus.

Much as I would like for this to be a religious post, today it is really not. It could be. And I may do that at some point.

But I want to get back to yesterday. I was thinking about Yom Kippur all day. And then I listened to the Auburn football game. Kodi Burns was the starter. Brandon Cox was the Scape Goat for all that had gone wrong in the last three games. I don't have to tell you what happened in the game, because you already know. Brandon Cox went from being Boo'd as the Scapegoat, to being cheered with chants of "Brandon...Brandon...Brandon..." by the student body. For him, it was a Day of Atonement. Not for his "football sins" alone....but for the entire Auburn family. Because as bad as Auburn played in the last three games....and committed many "football sins" that cost two games and almost cost a third....the booing of Brandon Cox was also a "football sin". We all needed a Day of Atonement. A Yom Kippur. A time to set everything straight. A time of forgiveness and moving on. I hope against hope, that last night we received our Yom Kippur. Let's move forward now, and beat Florida.

War Eagle!

WJLaneSr