What! It's 2020 ALREADY???

Yes indeed, it is ALMOST 2020. There is something special about those round numbers. This is the year I may reach the big 70. Wow, 70 is old. It's a long time to be on this earth.

I won't belabor that time passes faster and faster as I age. You know it, or will soon enough. I do think that TIME deserves a bit more attention than I normally give it. I have spoken about time management on a couple of recent occasions. I quote Ben Franklin who said approximately, "Doth thou love life, then do not waste time, for time is the stuff of which Life is made."

I explain in this lecture, that time is an equalizer.  Bill Gates has no more time than we do. Sure, he can hire someone to do some of the mundane things, but this is likely more than offset by his need to manage billions of dollars. ALL of us get just 24 hours per day.

So, 2020 will give us all some hours. How will I spend them? Each year that goes by, becomes more valuable than the last, because our days are numbered, and that number is steadily dwindling. We can spend time on things that matter--or on things that don't.

So, what matters? In my view, souls are eternal, and so one of the very few things that matter. People will live on beyond death--some not so happily. This world will pass away, this money will pass away, these "memorials" will too pass into oblivion. Only WE will endure.

So 2020 is another year of opportunity to be self-absorbed and world-absorbed, and another year to be concerned with the souls of men.

What say ye??

Post Christmas Reflections

I need to start with a confession, I wrote this BEFORE Christmas. I am anticipating after-Christmas reflections. As thousands have said before, Christmas in the modern USA is far too commercial. But, that said, Christmas is a great time of tradition, of reflection and of family gatherings.

I say that with some sadness. I know for many, family is NOT always a pleasant thought. We have no shortage of broken families and broken people even within "intact" families. I have mentioned before, but it has been on my mind a lot lately, some college students do NOT want to go home for the holidays. I recall my college days being THRILLED beyond words to get out of the Academy and home with family. As long as my parents, and Brenda's parents were alive, we cherished time with them.

But, of course, Christmas surpasses tradition, reflection and even family. Christmas began as Christ's Mass. The Christ is born, the Messiah, the Savior of the World is on earth. As our pastor Ben says it, our biggest problem is already solved. Because of the Christ, we can achieve the impossible- we can stand in the presence of the G^d who spoke the UNIVERSE into existence! Let that sink in.

Christ resolved the debt we could NEVER pay.
Christ took the punishment we DESERVED.
Christ made the SACRIFICE that made us Pure enough for G^d's perfect standard.

No wonder the Angels sang.
No wonder the shepherds marveled.
No wonder the wise men brought gifts.

We have JUST celebrated the Birth of the Savior. 

I hope we didn't miss that!

Born in a Manger- New depth of meaning!

Just yesterday I was reflecting on Isaiah 53:5-6, which says, 

"But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him."

Jesus, born in a manger, like a little lamb.

In Gen 22 we read where G^d provides a ram as a lamb to Abraham to sacrifice as a SUBSTITUTE for Isaac.

As a young man, he is described as the "Lamb of G^d who takes away the sin of the world in John 1:29, 36 and Jesus is the Lamb in Rev. 14:1.

And above, in Isaiah, we are, "... like sheep have gone astray...". So, first Jesus is the lamb, and He becomes like us sheep. G^d became man and dwelt among us in John 1:14.

But, as Isaiah points out Jesus becomes the Passover Lamb who saves us from the death angel. In the Last Supper Jesus clearly says MY Blood, MY body, given for you.

From the substitute for Isaac, to the Passover, to that little manger where G^d became flesh, to that last supper, to the Lamb of G^d who takes away the sin of the world on the cross. What continuity.

Only G^d!

 

Graduation

On 15 Dec Brenda and I headed for BHM to fly to Phoenix. We were headed to Andrew’s Ph.D. graduation at Arizona State. It was a BIG deal and likely our last chance to celebrate one of our kids’ graduations, although perhaps we can see a kindergarten, elementary, high school, or even college graduation for one of our grandchildren. It is a long trip, but I decided when I was a faculty member that I would attend every UA graduation if I was in town. At UA I volunteered to be a “Graduation Marshall” because that way I got to get up to escort my group to the stage, and I got to sit with the students. The biggest advantage was that I got to meet with my students as we lined them up to march in. I would get somebody to snap our picture in our graduation regalia. Plus, I got to chat with them a bit about their future. The biggest reason I went though was that I realized that there are only a few occasions in life wherein EVERYONE is happy, happy happy. Indeed, parents are overjoyed to be done paying tuition and room and board. Students are happy because they think “the hard part of life” is over. Now they can “adult”. Even Profs are happy that another cycle is complete and they are a bit closer to retirement, promotion, etc.

           This was especially sweet because right up until last October, we were NOT at all sure this day would ever come. Andrew had, surprising to me, struggled to finish his dissertation despite that he had collected all his data over a year earlier. He really struggled to get that dissertation written, edited, and defended. We had watched his defense via Facebook messenger.
          Even under the best of circumstances, completing a doc degree takes a lot of time, energy, money and most of all commitment. Anyone who completes their degree, and some don't, has accomplished something major. 
        And we need to celebrate when the opportunity presents. So, we were thrilled to celebrate, celebrate, celebrate. And we thoroughly enjoyed it.

International Coaches Academy = Fun in Ohio!

It is mid-November and Brenda and I are on our way to the International Coaches Academy, which starts in Xenia, OH and then moves on to the Golden Eagle Retreat Center, in Palestine, OH. Yes, we have been to Palestine, and to our surprise, there are two Academy participants from Jericho, Palestine in the Middle East. We also have participants from Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, Brazil, Benin, Togo, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, the Maldives, UAE, Egypt, The Congo, South Korea, East Asia, the Philippines, and three more countries. A few we know from the year before, our first there. Some of these are Christians, and one becomes a Believers whilst at the meeting. The Gospel is presented, and Brenda and I get to help some Christians who are struggling with a few of the fundamentals. Brenda talks with a couple in which the husband has fallen away from the Faith. She answers some questions and encourages them both. Others on staff also minister to them.

            The focus of the camp is Jesu Christ, but the program is about helping coaches do better at coaching.  I present 4 times on Recovery from training, exercise in the heat, and using science to train sportsmen, and then two sessions on Time Management. This last talk was added at the last minute, when there is  bit of time and someone realize just how busy coaches can be.  Maybe next year we can do a session on balancing work and family.

            The says are very full. But one day we get to visit the NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis and then go to an Indiana Pacers pro basketball game. We arrive at the Pacers’ arena early enough to hear a talk  by a former Women’s NBA player. She describes her rigorous training schedule. I marvel at her report that she took TWO showers each day of practice.  Wow, my skin could never take that! This is Brenda’s and my first NBA game ever. It is an interesting experience and the Pacers win by about 30 points over the OKC Thunder. We are glad we got to do it, but neither of us would spend the time or money to do it again. Sport viewing is not that popular for the two of us these days and seems to be declining further.

            This year, we wisely stay for the banquet that ends the academy on Thursday night. It is a joyous occasion. Brenda and I are both struck by the warmth and gratitude of some many who came by to thank us and have us sign their souvenir basketball. Several of these folks we have gotten to know quite well. Many will have a place in our hearts long after we have forgotten their names. Fortunately, we have a group photo and their names and countries are listed on the back.  That’s great for those of us with old brains.

            The Athletes in Action staff are all terrific, though a bit tired from all their work. We know several of these from Cru Staff Training in CO. I have been on international mission trips with two of them. It is great to be on the “same team” with such fine folk.

            What a great job we have, traveling around and meeting terrific young people from the USA and the world!  Thank you L^rd for calling us into such a great enterprise with such FINE people!  Amen.

Another Hunting Season has Come

It  is another cold, clear morning In Central AL. It is 34 F, with minimal wind. I just had a spike buck and a small 6-point walk about 10 yards in front of me at about 0730. The bigger buck paused briefly to browse on some honeysuckle. I know some readers might be opposed to hunting, and I understand. But you won’t find anyone with a greater love for the outdoors and a stronger desire to preserve it than a bona fide hunter. I sit here in the cold with a big grin. The woods are at the height of color as I sit here on 25 Nov. This is my third season to hunt this area and I a finally feeling a bit familiar with it. Last year Andrew and I took 4 deer out of here with 3 of the bucks. I wrote about the last one, a trophy indeed.

            This is my 7^th time to hunt this season. I have hunted more than any of the 10 members of the group, though EM has been to the property and signed in a couple more times than I. One of the best things about this club is the lack of competition for desirable hunting locations. I have rarely seen another hunter who wasn’t hunting with me. The lease is quite large, so we could handle our full complement of hunters if necessary.

            I have done more WORK whilst hunting here than anywhere. The first year I revised a textbook. Last year I was writing, editing and rewriting the book that came out this past August. This year I have edited a dissertation in part, and a paper for a former Ph.D. student. Now the semester is almost done, so perhaps most of the work is behind me. I love my little laptop which makes this practical. It is a bit hard to type in the cold, but I take breaks.

            Now the sun is melting the frost of the leaves on the bushes and weeds around me. It is a bit after 0800, and the sun evaporates the frost, which then re-cools to form little droplets in the air, creating a fog that makes the weeds look like they are smoking.  This goes on for an hour as different parts of the woods become sunlit.  Neat to see! Now a young Carolina wren flits about only 7 or 8 feet to my left. I saw a larger relative the last time I was in this stand. These are my neighbors and friends. The sun will slowly warm up the earth around me. It is a rhythm that has played out millions of times and will probably repeat a few more times before G^D brings all this to an end.

            And, what a Blessing that I get to enjoy it one more time.  Thank you, L,^rd!

Hotty Toddy!

At the end of October, Brenda and I trekked westward to Dallas for the first ever Cru Grad Expos. More about that in a minute, but we decided that on our way we would detour to Ole Miss, in Oxford. Our friends the Smiths had worked in Cru FCULTY Commons there until they moved to Italy. Brenda and I had agreed to “take over” ministry there, on an as-able basis in 2018. I had tried to set up some meetings there, but never had any response. Now unbidden, we decided to stop by.

            I am thrilled we did. Our first visit was with a friend I made in Italy. Her and her husband are some of the neatest people I have met. It was great to intor Brenda to her. 
           We then met with a young part-time prof who has a clinical practice in town since she teaches “clinical Practice” in her specialty. We bought her a tea and asked her about her ministry. Each Thursday dinner is an open invitation to her present and former students to have tacos with them. She said most Thursdays there were 4 to 6 students having super with her. On Monday mornings, she has  a Christian book study with any of her FORMER students (so as to prevent “brown nosing”). She has good attendance but poor preparation among these students. I suggest she try tome simpler, easier-reading books, as her choices are pretty heavy. But regardless, there is NO doubt that she is having an impact for the Christ on her campus with her students. I wish there were many more like her.

            We then met with a young prof there who I had taught once at the U of AL. She was in a different specialty, but she was happy to meet with us and I was thrilled to see someone I had known in the past. She is a Christian, but I don’t think it had ever occurred to her that she could be salt and light in a very dark place- the secular University. I give her a book, A Grander Story, about how we can participate ion G^d’s grander story. From here we hurry to a meeting with a prof I had met briefly once before who seems to be on the staff of one of my long-time friends who is NOW the DEAN  of Applied Sciences. The dean is an enthusiastic Christina who had told his fellow deans that when he arrived at Ole Miss. He reported feeling immune to their disdain.  We patted him on the back for that and encouraged both the prof and the dean to strive to have an ETERNAL impact on their students and colleagues. A positive impact is always good, but why focus on the temporal and miss the eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18)? I was surprised that the dean gave us a full 2 hours of his time.  Trust me, this is NOT normal. Thank you L^rd.

            Our final meeting of the day was with a Harvard alumnus who I had ministered with in Rome about 4 or 5 years back. He had a lot of stories he wanted to tell, and it is a ministry to give a list3ning ear. We ended up getting away quite late and we had a long way to travel, so we got out of Oxford a little way and spent the night in Forrest City, Ms. Tomorrow we would head to Dallas, but that’s another story.

Jubilation!!

As I write this (26 Oct), just yesterday our son Andrew completed and submitted his dissertation in anthropology. This marks the high-point of about 7 years of intense study. Andrew never thought he would see this day, and many other people likely had doubts.

As parents, we understand that each person makes their own way in this world. Some wonderful parents have wayward children. Some not so great parents have terrific children. Each person, given their individual talents and limitations chooses, within limitations, their path.

Having written a dissertation myself, and directed 52 others, I know a bit about it. I devised a method to make it relatively easy for my students. In my system, grad students got involved in research early in their studies and increased their depth every semester. I used to tell them, "my intention for you is that your three dissertation studies be your 5th, 6th, and 7th publications. In other words, I wanted this "independent" research experience to be routine, not exceptional. In fact, I consider my greatest contribution to graduate education to be my individual institution of a "3-study dissertation" formatted as three connected studies written up for publication with each containing its own Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion sections. This worked extremely well for those Ph.D. students who had already done this 3-4 times before starting their dissertation.

Andrew did NOT have this situation, so his dissertation was extremely, and unnecessarily, stressful.

But now, huzzah, it is completed. He still has to defend it, but for Andrew that should be pretty easy, since he does understand what he did, how he did it and why.

I used to encourage my students to GO to graduation, which I never did after my BS graduation. There aren't that many truly happy, happy occurrences and graduation is one. So, make the most of it.

So soon I will be booking our flights to Tempe to see Andrew be hooded.

Another cause for Jubilation.

Christians in Italy

I have written about my recent mission trip to Italy with Cru. This was a great trip, which is why I have made several posts about it.

One of the neat changes I have seen since 2015 is the increased number of Christians in Italy. Mateo, and Gianluca, and Andrea, and Maria, and Giosue. I am sure I am missing a few. These are Christian ITALIANS ministering to reach Italy with the Gospel.

Whilst in Rome I got to meet a group of Christian students from Tor Vergata University. These students, internationals from India, Brazil, Kenya, had initiated and conducted a student Christian group on campus. Though not Italian, there they are, honoring Christ in an Italian Uni.

It appeared there were MORE Cru staff than any time since we began visiting. There is still a long, long way for Italy to recover its lost Christianity (think of those early Roman Christians rescuing abandoned babies).

I fear the USA is not too far behind the European abandonment of Christianity. But for now, I am rejoicing that Italy is seeing the light of the Christ.

Pray for Italy.

A Thanksgiving Post on Eating

Just last week (it's 22 Oct), I returned from 11 days in Italy. As EVERYONE knows, Italy has some great food.

There are cafes and gelaterias every couple of blocks. People eat.

Yet, the obesity rate appeared low. In USA it's 30%,  in Italy about 10%, but it looked even lower.

So, HOW can this be??  I am guessing a combination of:
1) Drinking much less sodas and fruit juices (One Italian told me fruit juice was prohibited because of high sugar).
2) MUCH, MUCH more walking. We had 15,000 steps registered mid-way through the day. We in the USA seem to avoid walking at all costs.

I think I lost 3-4 pounds there, despite eating MORE food than usual.

Go figure.

"A moment on the lips, but forever on the hips."

Now, keep that in mind as you down that Thanksgiving feast.

Enjoy!

Criticism

How do you like criticism??

Not much fun is it?

Last night I read my annual performance review, and one of the three reviewers was pretty tough on me. The other two seemed to be big fans. Two out of three ain't too bad eh?

I wish I had NOT read that 3rd reviewer's comments right before bed.  It was bad timing.

Here's a couple of experpts for your enjoyment:
"...his shortcomings in the areas of polish, appropriateness, and openmindedness."
Sweet eh?

"...he's got some ideas about the way things should be done that have calcified in his mind, but times have changed and his ministry approach has not changed with it."
So much for being innovative.

Hey he was on a roll, so here's a couple more:

"...tell him where he was inappropriate, too casual, or where the audience was distracted from his message by one of his antics. 

And, last but not least:
"...he needs to quit CAPITALIZING words he wants to emphasize. or doing weird things with the typewriter like writing G^D.

Well, in my defense, I haven't used a typewriter in years. But, I guess he assumed this since my ministry approach is still unchanged.

As I have reflected and sought the L^rd (pls excuse the ^ if it offends you), my attitude towards this critque shifted significantly. Maybe he was right about some/all of his points. I am 69.6 years old and have been doing some of these errors a loooooong time.
I am unsure if I can change or not.

Also, I am a bit unsure with regard to which of these I want to change. I don't want to be calcified, but I am finding it harder to change.

I wrestled 4 years in High School.
I was a plebe at USNA.
I was active duty 8 years.
I served with the US Marine Corps 3 years of the 8.
I have run maybe 3 dozen marathons and ultra-marathons.


And, YET (all caps) this is the biggest beat-down I have ever suffered.

Well done man, well done.

Who knows, maybe it will do some good???

What Hath G^d Done?

Just a few days ago I was on a mission trip in Italy. We visited Rome, Florence, and Bologna. Brenda and I have been to all these places more than once. IF YOU ARE AN ARTIST please GO to Italy!

I raised the question near the end of our trip, "Why did G^d place SO MUCH artistic talent in Italy?"

I can't even name them all: Filippo Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Botticelli, Caravaggio,    Donatello, (think of all the Teenage mutant ninga turtles).

Their art is ABSOLUTELY amazing, I have NO artistic ability or training. How could they carve, paint, draw, design, build such amazing things of beauty. When you look at the sheer genius of their work (even from my uneducated perspective), these artists were clearly miraculously gifted by the G^d who also gave us mountains, and sunsets, and trees, and canyons, and so many natural beauties.

Praise G^d for his manifold gifts of beauty.

Wow! A Jewish Jew

I am standing in line to see the beautiful interior of Il Duomo in beautiful Florence, IT. The folks behind me are French. The fellow in front of me is chatting excitedly on the telephone. His accent sounds like a mid-Atlantic origin. We have a few minutes of waiting, so I strike up a conversation by guessing he is from the mid-Atlantic region.

"Philadelphia." He says. But on further probing I learn he grew up on Long Island, but he doesn't have a strong Island accent.

We exchange information about our jobs. He has founded an oncology software company, and is in Florence for some sort of international convention. When I tell him I am a Christian missionary, he suggests I may not want to talk with him because he is...Jewish!

Oh contrare, I tell him, I love all things Jewish.

This catches him totally off-guard and raises the immediate question of why.

I recite the Baruch eta and tell him that my own religion was founded upon the Hebrew faith. I tell him I had just led a Rosh Hoshanah celebration and that I thought all Christians OUGHT to celebrate at least some of the Jewish Biblical feasts: Rosh Hoshanah, Yom Kippur, Succot, and Passover. Passover is a no-brainer, but the other feasts also have strong Christian implications. I tell him I have 3 or 4 kippas (yarmalukes) and a prayer shawl, and a mezzuzah on my door.

This young Jew, to my surprise, is a devout Jew who knows a LOT about his faith. This is a shock, because MOST Christians and Jews seem to know only a little about their own religion. I am NOT trying to criticize, just sharing my personal observations. (Recently when I tried to connect with a Jewish lady, and recited the Baruch eta, the lady responded with "And all that stuff...!" This is not rare."

He explains his view of Jesus. Jesus was a good teacher (rabbi) who told the Jews to abandon the old ways and live a good, virtuous life.

I explain the gospel in brief, but clear, terms.

Together we tour the beautiful Roman Catholic cathedral. We continue chatting about religion. When we have thoroughly seen the sights, and taken each other's pictures in front of the great altar. He compliments my Hebrew pronunciation. We exit. Without hesitation he consents to a photo with me. Then he gives me his contact info., and we part company.

I have emailed him, hoping to continue our conversation. So far, and understandably, I haven't heard back from him. I hope that one day I will.  I really liked this very Jewish young man.

Pray for my friend, Nathaniel.

Sweetness from the past- Life Review

Yesterday (19 Oct.) I was putting up a portable treestand in a place I have been wanting to deer hunt. The path to the pine tree was filled with sugarberry bushes, laden with berries. This may well be the BEST crop of sugarberries I have ever seen. Every bush seemed full of berries.

Sugar berries are a little dark purple berries resembling blueberries but a little smaller. They grow on a bush with small oval leaves that can be taller than your head. The little berries are mildly sweet, but the name may come from the flesh which is grainy, like a bit of sugar feels. Here's a picture...after I had eaten some of the berries:

I think the reason I love these tiny treats is that my Dad introduced us boys to them on one of the many Sunday afternoon strolls on the old Bishop farm bordering the Etowah River in Canton, GA. Each season had its treats: wild blueberries, squirrels and rabbits, hickory nuts, blackberries, quail, and sugarberries.

Thanks be to G^d that we can get such great pleasure from such small things. G^d has Blessed us so abundantly, and an abundance of sugarberries is such a sweet reminder!

International Friends

I had an intense learning experience up in Bologna, IT. We were only there for one day. As soon as we arrived my Ph.D. buddy there, Sandro, picked us up in the train station and took us to the Univ of Bologna (oldest European Uni in the world) and toured us around until time for my lecture to commence.

Sandro is a handsome weight lifter born in Bologna. He did his Ph.D. at Central FL, and we first met in 2013 through another Ph.D. student from Brazil, F. Maghales.

What struck me, and my three companions, was Sandro’s extraordinary kindness. I mentioned to Brenda that Sandro was acting sort of like one of my own Ph.D. students. When I had mentioned I would like to speak at Uni BO, Sandro immediately jumped on it and set up a lecture with a bunch of Grad students and 4 profs in no time.

It was fun doing the lecture, and much to my surprise, one of the Italian students, Mattia M., is a BIG Uof AL American football fan. He knew a surprisingly lot about the team. After the talk, several students and one faculty came up and chatted for a while, exploring some areas they apparently didn’t want to ask about during the lengthy Q&A session.

When we were all done at the Uni, Dr. Sandro B. took us out to a place near his parents’ home and bought our lunch--unabashed hospitality at its best. Later the guys with me commented on Sandro’s noteworthy kindness and consideration.

There is a certain joy in having kind friends scattered around the globe.  Thanks Dr. Sandro B., for being such a friend.

Beautiful Art

If you love art, please visit Italy. I am guessing there are more beautiful, high-quality, pieces of art per square mile in Italy than any other place on earth. After a while, we were joking bout, “oh look, another beautiful church! Sigh.”

The thing I found MOST beautiful in all of Italy were the people I met there. Presently I am particularly speaking about Cru staff, whose official title is Agape Italia staff.

Consider these famous works of art:  Brandon, Courtney, Andrea (male) and Blerta, Tiffany, Brian, Elisha, Kenneth, Matt, Mateo, Joel, Amy, Baldwin and Laura, Haswell, Maria, Daryl, Ceil, Gianluca, Russell, Fran, Emily, Sarah…and I am certain I left at least one or two key folks out of this list.

These are people who LOVE JESUS, who want to share Him with a dying world. They seek out Believers and lost souls. They ride buses, trains, subways, trams and occasionally planes to reach people. They lose sleep and they work hard. They.are.beautiful.art.created.by. G^d.Himself.

Here are a few of those fine works of art:

Life REview: Friends Across the Years

Over these 69 years I have had the great fortune of many friends. And for any readers, you likely won't find your name, because I am doing a Life Review, and my current friends don't need reviewing.

My childhood memories are of Newt Coker, Charles Raines, and Ed Towers. There was Ronnie Budd, and Hank Hitt, and Darrell Allen too. Ed died last year. Hank has been dead many years now. I saw Charles at our 50th High School reunion last year, and he really hasn't changed too much. I have tried to communicate with Newt, but since we visited them in Houston about 20 years ago, he hasn't responded. Last I heard he was in NM.

From High School friends, I moved on to College buddies. Bob Bird, Chris Schlear, George Stringer, Andy Tolk, Greg Mead, Tom Jones, and Fred Pottschmidt were some of those.  Greg is dead, now, I just saw George and Fred last spring in OH. From here I went to a ship for 7 months, and for better or worse I don't recall any friends from that era. The Squadron, VQ4, brought several friends. Vern Lochausen went on to command a VQ squadron, I think.  I saw Jack Carr 10 or 12 years back when I was speaking in Athens, GA. I flew many hours with Frank Caruson.  He and Carr both were career pilots with Delta, and I used to look for them any time I was on a Delta flt.  I was also on crew with Jerry Curran, who was driving in England when we almost got a ticket for passing someone turning right and "got clear on the verge".

My VQ4 cruise book shows that I was on Crew #1 (of 13) in those days. I flew with LTs. Bill Newton and Chuck Wolcott, and LtJGs Buddy Baker and Mark O'Leary.  That was a busy 4 years, since we ended up flying over 3000 hours in that period. We kept an aircraft airborne 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, year-round.  It's no wonder the Squadron was big, and though I recall some names, that ended in 1977 when I left the squadron for NROTC duty.

From here, my friends were the Ph.D. students in Exercise Physiology at UGA.  Susan Vickery, Jesse DeMello, Dave Hill, Chet Ray, and Mindy Millard are the names I can recall, with a little help from Brenda. The only close friends outside of UGA was Chuck Carson, Terry Mercer and Lowell Jett. Chuck I hunted with and helped as a "Plumber's helper" with a doctoral degree.  The other two were Church buddies.

Most of my friends since moving to Alabama are my colleagues, students, and Church friends. Some of those date back over 30 years.  I won't even TRY to name all of those.

Friends are a TRUE treasure.  Thanks be to G^D for all these friends.

"Don't settle for a relationship that prevents you from being yourself." ~ Oprah Winfrey

A famous person, who shuns the spotlight, once said, "Don't settle for a relationship that prevents you from being yourself." ~ Oprah Winfrey

How do YOU feel about her wisdom? It took me less than 30 secs to politely disagree. I seek out ALL relationships that help prevent me from being myself. Those who know me well, understand why I don't want to be myself. I want and need to be a MUCH better person. and my dear sweet wife, who is loathe to say anything negative about me, can and DOES (Thank you L^rd), prevent me from being myself on a daily basis.  

Thank you Brenda!  And thanks to the many other "preventers" in my life.

And, contrary to Ms. Winfrey, I hope you have people that help prevent you from being yourself too.

Don't misunderstand.  I LOVE you, and people in general. BUT, having observed humankind for 69 years, I don't want you to "be yourself". If you haven't noticed, mankind is fallen. ALL OF US! We all need a SAVIOUR- ALL of US. We are selfish sinners--no offense. This is mere observation, and if you have never picked up on this, YOU AREN'T PAYING ATTENTION!

Fortunately, G^d: The Father, Jesus the Christ, and the Holy Spirit, all want to help prevent us from being ourselves. Thanks be to G^D that HE has DIED to FREE me from being myself. G^d miraculously, in His grace and mercy, sees Jesus when he looks at me. In my sinful, fallen state, G^d does NOT leave me to my own devices. And He wants to do that for you too.

It's pretty simple (Thank you L^rd!):

Step 1: Recognize, with G^d, that you have fallen far short of perfection. You are in trouble, and can only be rescued by the Blood of the Christ.
Step 2: REPENT. That is, ask G^D to prevent you from being your natural "Self", and transform you by His power.
Step 3: Accept the work of the Christ on your behalf by FAITH ALONE. You can never "Fix" yourself, you are too broken. Accept that the Christ paid the price for your sin in His death.
Step 4: Follow the Christ. Find a group of Christ Followers and ask to travel along with them. Ask them to HELP you learn to EXPRESS GRATITUDE for what the Christ has done for you ALREADY. Endeavor to OBEY G^d in such a way that He will prevent you from being yourself, and transform you into an obedient FOLLOWER of the Christ.
Step 5: Start over FOLLOWING the Christ, every time you fall, every time you stray away from His path for you. Thank G^d, in prayer and action, for his MERCY AND GRACE. KEEP AT IT!

Oh, and if you run in to Ms. Winfrey, share with her how G^d can prevent her from being herself Thanks.

Meet Tony

There the local Agape team was hosting an aperativo English practice session. There were only two participants, one from Azerbaijan, and the other from Guatemala. Tony, from Guatemala came in after Tamer, so he sat down where Elisha, Matthew and I were chatting. Elisha and I introduced ourselves and we got to know a little about Tony. He was clearly a brave young man about 26-34 years old who had a lot of life experience and seemed to be a good thinker.

After we chatted a few minutes, the Gospel came up in the conversation. Tony wasn’t ready to sign on just yet, and the conversation continued about the KEY elements of the Gospel and some of what Jesus had said about it in some of His conversations.

At one point we began talking about Loving G^d, and our neighbor as ourselves (Lk 10). Tony shared that he struggled with loving Himself. With my bad hearing I misunderstood him. Possibly because for my generation the challenge is to avoid loving yourself too, too much. It turns out that his generation struggles with loving themselves at all. After I had gone off track about Jesus wanting us to the point of Loving Him first and foremost, and how if we did that the proper high- and low- self esteem issues fell to the background, Elisha got us back to Tony’s statement that I had missed.

Somehow, I had never noticed this struggle with low, low self-esteem—possibly because I had trouble conceiving of such a thing. But, in the future, I hope to be able to use this new knowledge when I talk to college students.

Hey old-timers, it’s a whole new, and very different, mindset out there.  But, it sure is good to know—now.

How about a little 12-hour nap?

It is Thursday afternoon.  Today is my first day back from Italy, which is 7 hours ahead of Northport. I arise at 0400 (it's 11 AM in IT) and feel pretty energetic. I shoulda enjoyed it more, because it won't last.

I spend two or three hours, or maybe five, catching up on emails, paperwork, etc. Around 1030 or 11 I start to go down to mow the grass, but Brenda requests my help with hanging two of the pictures we had bought for the Living Room. After that I hang a dozen more, give or take a few. as the day progresses, I feel worse and worse. After finishing the picture-hanging, I crank up the mower and cut the grass.

I am spiraling down pretty quickly as I sit down to supper at a little after 3 PM.  We like to eat supper early, but this is a NEW RECORD for us. Yay! After supper, I am doomed and about 5 PM I...go to bed of course.  Remember 3 PM local time is 10 PM Italian time.

I sleep until Brenda comes to bed about 9 and offers be a small benadryl. I agree. I awake briefly around 0200, and then around 4.  The next time I look at the clock it is 0525, and time to get up for Grace men's prayer meeting.

Wow! Twelve hours of sleep!  Amazing.  Ever done that?

And as I write this...I'm feeling a bit sleepy!

Fall of the Year

When Brenda and I left Northport on 22 September, it was blazing hot and dry and the thoughts of Fall were still distant. I returned late on 16 Oct to a coolness that tells me that it is indeed Fall, with all of its pleasures.

I mowed the grass yesterday, 17 Oct., and noticed that it had grown surprisingly little since we left. I note on my calendar this might be last yard-mowing of this year.  Hooray!

The October daises are right at full bloom. We didn't even realize they were there until they burst into bloom while I was out of town. The leaves in other parts of the USA are turning fall colors, but not here. I fear that our dry, dry early fall will stress the trees to the point of minimizing the fall colors.  Maybe I am wrong.

Fall is a time of joy.  Football is finally played in reasonable weather, with a diminished threat of heat injury. It's deer season, and that is one of my FAV times of the year. I get to sit quietly and read, contemplate, meditate.  A great time to enjoy.

Thanks be to G^d for these marvelous seasons. THis might be my favorite...until Spring.

Oldie but goodies

See these boots?  Guess when and where I got them?

Yes!  How did you know?  I got them from my friend, then CPT Charles R who was in Special Forces w the Army. I was visiting him, turkey hunting, in the spring of 1984, I think. He had these boots with which the Army was experimenting to try to minimize detection by UV radiation. They fit me, so he gave them to me.

I have worn them for all sorts of work. I have cut fire wood, painted, built stuff, and even hunted in them. They are now on their last legs, which isn't too bad after 35 years. They have been through some laces, but these are original soles and they are still in pretty good shape.

In the desert, the Israelites sandals did NOT wear out even after 40 years of wandering.  Go figure.

I read this and recognized that when stuff goes a long time you don't spend much money on it. We have 3 autos presently: a 1998 Maxima, a 2000 Tundra, and a 2001 Altima. They still run, so we still drive them. My fav deer rifle I bought used in 1977 or so. I wear a pair of loafers from 1984. Go figure.

Thank you L^rd for some good boots that are only just now wearing out. They didn't make it 40 years, but they still did well. Hey my body is 69.5, and it's still functioning!  Go figure.

Thanks be to G^d!

One of our favs

We have mentioned before how we like seeing the wildlife at the new home. We see green heron, domestic geese, Canada geese, wood ducks, green heron, an occasional hawk and owl, and I have written about the fighting hummingbirds. But our family fav is the Great blue heron, which is a bit of an odd name given that it is mostly gray.

Once we saw two of them at once, but the norm is to see a solitary blue. He often alights in the tall pines directly across the lake from our kitchen window. I guess his height makes him stand out, but we like him/her. As you might expect, we call it "Old Blue".

Of course our biggest thrill is when he lights on our dock, as you can see above. On occasion he has come into our yard to move down the lake shore looking for food.

Brenda has been seeking a painting of a blue to display. One of our CO friends has a Basil Edes of a blue, and one of our local friends has another by someone. Most folks who paint seem to chose, naturally, the most colorful phase of the male bird. Whereas I certainly understand this, it seems exaggerated compared to what we usually see.

G^d has gifted us, and everyone, with beautiful nature. Nature testifies to his eternal power and divine nature (Rom. 1:20). And Old Blue adds to the testimony.

Indeed.

So How do you get a BIG tree out of a tight spot?

Here's the rub: how do you get a 65-75 foot dead pine out of your backyard when it is surrounded by other trees?

Well, you start by getting a bucket truck into the back yard.

First you trim off any limbs on other trees that may hang up or interfere with the dead tree and its parts from falling into the designated space. Then you start at the bottom, holding a limb and cutting it from the trunk. The dangling limb is then swung into the designated space and released.

Once all the limbs are gone, you tie a special harness to the trunk, and tie the part being cut to this harness and to a line which allows them, with the help of the bucket, to lower it into the designated spot. This is repeated with ruck sections, until the trunk gets too big.

Once the trunk gets too big, the swedge cut is made then the trunk cut and at the end pushed towards the designated drop zone. Sometimes this works better than others.

Ultimately a little bobcat, with a skillful driver, scoops up ALL the debris and hauls it to the curb. From the curb, a BIG truck with a grabber, just like the city uses, grabs the pile at the curb. This team then used a leaf blower and rakes and cleaned everything up very neatly.

And, my friend, THAT'S how it's done!

Defining--Redefining Success in Ministry

Humming it up

One of the great joys of our new home are the hummingbirds. We had an excellent spot just outside the kitchen table lakeside bay window for a feeder.  After dealing with the raccoons who kept messing with it, we finally figured out a system that worked.

What many humming bird feeders have seen is that the hummers seem more interested in fighting than in feeding. Just as I am writing this, by the bay window, a hummer comes up to feed, but before he can get his long bill into the feeder, another comes by and runs him off.

Hummer friends, please recognize that THERE IS PLENTY OF NECTAR FOR ALL!!

Yes, Brenda refills the feeder when it nears empty. If they drank a cup a day, the next day there would be more.

I think there is a key lesson herein for humans. We get so greedy that we fight, even when there is an abundance. We could BETTER enjoy what we have, if we weren't so worried about what someone else has!

I'm gonna think about it. What can hummers teach us?

TIRED!

I have been writing these last few blogs about our travels out west. We have been back just over a week, and it strikes me how long it took me to recover. Most of our time we were at  elevations above 5000 feet which used to give me insomnia and anorexia.  I didn't really notice anorexia, and I seemed to sleep fine, so that probably wasn't the problem.

We do tend to go-go-go very hard. In fact Andrew mentioned this which made me stop and think that yes, we don't want to waste any opportunity, so we may over-do a bit.  Recall our family motto: "If it's worth doing, it's worth over-doing."

I have had plenty to do since our return and that hasn't helped. My personality does NOT do well when I am over-loaded with tasks.  Pacing myself, as Andrew observed, is not my strong suit.

The last couple of days have been better. Yesterday evening and this AM we have been prepping flower beds to receive the 30 day lilies that my brother and his wife mailed us from their garden. I bought some larirope today to make the border of the beds. My hope is to get them in the ground tomorrow.

We are happy to be home, looking at our own pond and sleeping in our own beds. There have been a LOT of Canada geese here, and there were none when we left in mid-July. There are now two great blue herrons.  The grass needs mowing, and there's plenty of tasks to do. Next month we do a wellness week at Laguna Beach and celebrate the Feast of Trumpets.  From there I do a couple of weeks in IT.  I know how tired I will be from that.

Until then, remember, If it's worth doing, it's worth over-doing.

American Bison

The animal we saw in greatest abundance was the American Bison, of “buffalo”. Right outside Glacier NP we saw a large herd numbering around 50-60. In Yellowstone, in the Lamar Valley we saw hundreds. In other spots around Yellowstone, we saw smaller herds of 20-40.

These are impressive animals, shaggy, some still shedding their thick winter coats. Most had calves following along, and we saw several cases where bulls had an apparently estrous cow that he was guarding. We got to see a couple very close. Several were rolling around in “wallows” covering themselves with dust. Twice we saw bulls walking down the road, obstructing traffic, with impunity.

These were the dominant food and clothing source for the Indians and for the early settlers. It is clear why. They are huge, and one could provide a LOT of meat. You’d have to kill a LOT of antelope to equal one bison.

I’m SURE this is not the case, but the animals appeared pretty docile. I’m guessing only the calves are subject to predation.

These are GRAND animals and great symbols of the American West. I’m glad they have been preserved in great numbers.