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.