Caught off Guard by Blue Angels

Today (it's mid-April as I write this) was the Tuscaloosa Air Show. My wife and I have been out of town for the last several of these, so this is the first one we have seen in a while. The highlight for most folks in this event is the demo by the US Navy Blue Angels.

Brenda and I were at our granddaughter's 3rd birthday celebration, which coincidentally gave a pretty good view of the Blue Angels performing.  I won't try to describe their aeronautical skills, but I am guessing most readers know what I mean.

The weather was not good for airshows, in fact yesterday's show was CANCELLED, and it was an excellent decision. Today it was cold and the clouds were low. I am guessing that we saw a very abbreviated version of the show. The show's exciting conclusion was the Blue Angels and we watched the show as we could see it from our daughter's yard.

I was NOT surprised by their skill, I have seen them perform many times, as a US Naval Academy student they performed at all four graduations I attended there. Plus, I have seem them several other places, plus I trained in Pensacola which is their home base.

I was surprised by my emotional response to these brave young men and women who might be performing their HIGH level aviation skills for recruiting, but would soon return to "The Fleet" where it isn't airshows, but the enemy which will be faced, firing real bullets on both sides.

I am still not sure, what brought me almost to tears.  The skill, my background working for about 12 years with brave and talented young folks sworn to uphold the Constitution and protect our country. I was tearful about the HIGH level of skill displayed not only by these pilots but by many, many more, in all branches of service. Over the years I have worked in and with, the US Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and US Army. These folks, mostly under 40 years of age, are probably the finest group I have encountered in my 68 years.

I guess I cry easier than I used to.  Go figure.

This body is Failing me!

There is NO doubt, I am aging, and it seems at an increasingly faster rate. I note, with a grimace, that I am in the worst physical condition of my adult life. As a youth, I had sports to keep me fit, which served me well, and that continued until I severely curtailed my running competition in the mid-90's.

After that I continued working out, mostly running, but beginning in 1996 by lifting weights 3x per week to preserve the small amount of muscle my slow-twitch body possessed.  Since retirement it has become MUCH more difficult. Since January, Brenda and I have been on the road a lot, which means a lot of missed workouts. About a month ago I got a case of arthritis in my right foot, which cleared up very quickly, so I ran only one week after the initial attack.

Bad idea!

It was too quick and it came back with a vengeance. Tomorrow (mid April) I will try running again, hopefully with a better outcome.

Getting old is not fun, but as many point out, is better than dying young. But I do know, that one of these days, my time will come to leave this old world. Many of my college classmates have left it already, and now more frequently than ever I get those notices in emails.

But, as my body fails me, the thoughts of "moving to the Big House", have increasing appeal. I think G^d gave us obvious signs of aging, as a gentle hint. No one, lives as a mortal, forever.

It is extremely reassuring to know where my soul will rest! I don't need to fear death, by any means!

Come quickly L^rd!

First Academic Year of Retirement

As I have written before, the academic life has a definite rhythm. Each term has a definitive start, middle and end. I also have remarked about retiring from this rhythm, this life, this culture, this career.

Most of my life has been in the classroom, as a student or as a teacher. Consequently, as I shared, the start of sixths academic year was pretty rough for me. I had never been retired before.

In a couple of weeks, I will have finished the first 11 months of retirement. I am happy, and happy to report, that I have made some progress in adjusting to the new normal.  The Spring term has been aided by the sheer volume of work to be done. I LIKE being busy, and these last months have met that need - in spades!

Brenda and I realize that many, many people would LOVE to be in the position that we presently occupy.  We have many, many blessings.  Thanks be to G^d!!

So, perhaps I have made this BIG adjustment.  As Coach Bobby Bowden used to say, "After retirement there's only one more big event left!"

And that's just fine by me!!

A Challenge for My Atheist Friends

A while back  I was  thinking about the issue of arguing about Darwinianism- should we even DISCUSS evolution with non-Believing academics?  I was thinking of quitting discussing, but on further review, I have continued.

KEY point:  If tomorrow, somehow Darwinian Evolution were "proven" to be true, I would be shocked as a statistician, but my FAITH would not be really impacted, since this is more a science issue than a theological one.  G^d used evolution, I am shocked, but so what.  Scripture is clear as to WHO, but vague as to exactly HOW.

ON THE OTHER HAND... if Darwinism is proven WRONG (and these is ample evidence to this conclusion), my atheist friends MUST come up quickly with an alternative explanation.  That will be a challenging task!

This is a kind of powerful variation on Pascal's wager.  As  Chesterton once observed, "It is absurd for the Evolutionist to complain that it is unthinkable for an admittedly unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing, and then pretend that it is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into everything.”                                        

So, what's your response to this challenge?

Last Minute International Retreat

It is Tues, 27 March, and I get a call from a Cru FC colleague, asking if I could give a couple of talks at a Chi Alpha International Student retreat in Gulf Shores, AL. After a short, short prayer, we said yes, we could do it. Brenda's sister who had been staying with us for a short visit was due to head home on Thursday, so we quickly figured that we could swing by her home, just north of Atlanta, and from there drive straight down to Gulf Shores arriving Thursday night.

We dropped off Brenda's sister, then headed south west for the Gulf. The traffic was a bit daunting, but then it started to rain, and occasionally blindingly hard. Our goal was to get to Foley, AL, but had we found a hotel earlier, due to the hard rain, we would have taken it. Some bad timing on my part meant we missed our best shot at a name-brand place to stay. The rain continued, and so, I cried out to G^d, "Please stop this rain!". A minute later Brenda said, "Look how bright the sky looks up ahead!" And, in a matter of just a few minutes the rain had quit. "Thanks be to G^d!"

We made it to Foley and spent the night in the same Econo Lodge we stayed in years earlier when we learned that Michael Jackson had died.

The next day we made it on to Gulf Shores. We were the first in our group to arrive. We got to spend a bit of time walking on the beach, and Brenda go in over 12k steps, and her comment was, "And I never even noticed"!  Such is the power of the beach.

We'll share more later.

Life Review: Free Range Play

Right now there is in the news some discussion of "free range Parenting". I guess this is in contrast to "helicopter parenting". Those of us who grew up in the late 50's in rural America, generally find all this amusing.

I am second oldest of 5 surviving boys (we lost an older brother who died of pneumonia as a child). We roamed the world in the best possible "free-range" fashion. As young boys we walked about 2 miles on a fairly busy highway almost daily during the summer months. We walked to the swimming pool and spent the best part of every day there during the hot summers of North Georgia.

We roamed the woods the other months. There were literally thousands of acres behind our home, and we seemed to have general access to it all. We hunted squirrels, gathered wild ginger buds, build huts, camped, hiked, explored, played in the creek, and no one thought anything about it...everybody did pretty much the same.

As we became old enough to drive, our exploits expanded to include floating the Etowah River to fish and jump-shoot ducks, and harvest more squirrels for the pot. We frog-gigged local ponds with great success, and oddly enough, we survived all this.

There is more to tell, but that is enough for now.

Life Review: Running Man Part IV

As I ended last post, let me tell you a little about running 106 miles per week.




I mentioned that my best distance was 50 miles. I had my greatest success at this distance.  The largest, by popularity, 50-miler in the USA was the JFK. I ran it, I think 5 times, maybe 6.  In 1978, I won the race in 6:14:59.  This was the peak of my running success. I also won the Runner's World 50-miler "national championship" around 1977 or '78, but I considered the JFK a much better achievement.  The Runner's World race was 200 laps on a 400-yard track!  Pretty boring.

In June 1980, I ran one, and only one, 100-mile race in VA.