Corona Craziness

It is 17 March and we are in the middle of Corona Craziness. Up until a couple of weeks back, the only time someone mentioned "corona" was to order a beer. Now, Covid-19, or Corona virus, is a buzz word that everyone knows. Cru has had a all-team briefing on Friday and again today. Our own ministry held an hour-long meeting today.  Whew!

I have had several trips cancelled, and Cru cancelled ALL SUMMER MISSIONS. That has never happened, and is a big deal.

Right now folks generally are not exceeding groups of 10, most restaurants cannot seat people for meals, and travel has laargely ground to a halt. Most meetings of any kind are cancelled.

This seems extreme, but extreme things call for extreme measures. NO ONE is taking any chances in underestimating the risk of this virus. It is really hurting the US economy, and likely that of many countries. Oh well...

Is this OVER reaction? Hopefully by the time you read this, you will be able to answer that. Most experts are suggesting that we will not be past this for another 7-8 weeks. So there are 2 weeks left in March, another 4 in April, and one more in May puts us at 7 weeks.

So, do things look like they are a week from over?  Time will tell.

Blessings,

Dawning of the Corona Virus

As some of you know, I have been around this earth a looooong time. As I write this, the COVID-19 virus is THE ONLY TOPIC. I do NOT recall anything quite like this before. Last night at our Elders meeting, we spent quite a while discussing what measures to take to protect our congregation from infection.

The President of the US has addressed the issue, as has all the presidents of other organizations and institutions. Brenda and I already have had 3 trips cancelled: Clemson, and Trinidad in March and Italy in April. Costa Rica, the NE USA, and Kenya are probably also in jeopardy, depending on how the virus progresses.

Today, 13 March, the news coverage seems to be exaggerating the drama of this event. By the time you read this we will know if it was over-blown, or simply cautiously reported. As a natural and a trained skeptic (i.e. scientist), I am guessing we have gone a bit over-board, but I am NOT an infectious disease expert by any means. The virus does seem pretty hardy, from early estimates of its life span on various surfaces.

At times like this, with possible threats to life as we know it, I think about my atheist/agnostic friends. I have no fear of death from Corona, or any other virus. As the apostle Paul once said, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Phil 1:21). On the other hand, for my friends who do NOT know Christ, there is much to fear. The death rate now is about 2%, which doesn't seem too high until you realize out of our Church congregation of 250 people, 5 people would die. That's puts it in perspective.

Well, I feel we are in the early stages of this pandemic. We will see what happens. By the time you read this, we will be pretty far down the road, and my questions will be mostly answered. If you do not yet have assurance of eternal life, now might be a good time to explore that issue.

Blessings,

Plans Change, and Then Change Again!

I remember my good friend Josh Jones was leading a Christian mission trip to Costa Rica and he told the travelers, "Plan that plans will change...and then they will change again.

As some may recall I was scheduled to travel to: Trinidad, Italy, Costa Rica, and New England this spring, and Kenya this summer. Due to COVID-19, ALL of this in tentative. I am guessing that IT is definitely OUT, but I haven't gotten a cancellation as of today, 10 March.

Some of my colleagues have spent a lot of time and energy planning these great mission trips. I feel bad for them for all this to be up in the air--indefinite and indefinitely.

Go Figure.

BUT, G^d is good and all He does is definitely good. He is sovereign and NOTHING catches Him by surprise. He knew all my days before I was even born. I still don't know what lies ahead, but whatever it is, it is good.

Blessings,

Life Review: Zoomed-out!

It is 21 April, and we have  been in COVID crazies for about 6 weeks. Before COVID I had to do a Zoom or Google-hangout call about once a month for Cru ministry, and I dreaded each one. After COVID forced all meetings to video calls, I went through a period of actually enjoying the convenience of meeting via computer. No driving was involved, you could join a meeting in about 1-2 minutes. You could dress more casually than usual.  There was an up-side and I enjoyed it.

Alas, those days are passed. I have never been a phone talker, and the novelty of Zoom has long passed. I am good for about 30 mins, but beyond that, it gets tough. Part of my issue is my back pain that comes from sitting too long at the computer. The computer posture is particularly hard on my back.

I have noticed that most people on video calls seem to be poker-faced, dispassionate. This too is a bit disconcerting to me, because I am constantly watching people to see their responses to the communications. I guess I get that from years of teaching.

To counter the lack of emotion in the audience, I do everything to SHOW emotion. I "thumbs up" often, I smile big, I nod. I may be muted, but I do all I can to communicate with expressions and any other way I can.

Yesterday's Zoom tried to lighten up a bit by playing Willie Nelson's "You are always on my Mind". When I saw the photo of Willie on the screen, I asked Brenda to get me a bandanna, and I did my best impression of Willie.  We do favor a bit--except I can't sing a lick.

Well, hopefully, by the time you read this, we will be on the down-slope of the COVID crazies. Let us pray to that end.

Life Review: Dream realized- Now we Own Some Land

Brenda and I today, 9 March, closed on 50 acres of land out on Boyd Road. I casually mentioned to a friend at Church that I was looking for some land, and he replied, "The land right next to us is going to be sold. You ought to buy that." I got the owner's name and called her. She told me that the land was already spoken for, but she would keep my name just in case something fell through.

I prayed about it that very night, asking G^d to make the land available, if He wanted us to have it. I honestly gave it little thought after that...until Saturday afternoon I get a call from the owner. She said, strangely enough the young man who wanted to buy the land had just, that morning, gotten engaged and his fiancee had told him that she didn't want to start with that kind of debt. Sooooo, if I was still interested, I was next in line.

Hmm, YES, in fact I was interested. I had a couple more things to do, then we jumped in the truck and... well you read about our getting badly stuck a couple of weeks back.

Here are the lovely brother and sister from whom we bought the land. They have been extremely nice, and at closing today, the lady brought us a notebook with some photos and narative about her family and relatives who were born and grew up on that land. She had a great Aunt named Evie, same as Brenda's mom and one of our granddaughters.

Below, see the bed where their mother was born on the property.

I am guessing this purchase will lead to many more blog posts. We shall see. There is lots we want to do out there. We shall see what we get done. I hope it will be the source of many fond memories.

Life Review: Aging Revelations

On 10 March, I was officially 70 years old. Wow, as a youngster I never imagined being this old. As most older folks have noted, time goes by more rapidly now than it did when I was waiting for my birthday as a 10-year-old.

My hypothesis is that each day represents such a much smaller portion of your life at 70 than at 10. But as a math-guy, I recently realized the flip side of this. Each day now represents a much LARGER portion of my life than it did at age 10. Yep, folks our days are numbered, and that number is steadily falling.

I find the prospects of rapidly approaching death to be interesting. I wonder how my atheist friends see this. For Christians, death should be welcomed. "There is no place to go but up", to cite that cliche. And here "up" means to heaven and to a superior place.

Of course things look a bit different when one speaks "theoretically" vs personally. When I look back, Brenda and I have lived a terrific life. We have traveled, ministered, parented, worshiped, served, loved, together. I had a TERRIFIC career as a prof. We have 5 terrific children, 4 wonderful in-laws, and 8 grands. We have friends scattered around the world.

What a Blessed life.  Thank you L^rd. G^d is good in good times and in bad. Blessed by His Name.

Life review: My 3.5 years in Court Part 5

Last blog I related how we had LOST by being denied a hearing by the Supremes (No not those, the Court),

But let me relate a few items:
During the case, I was given TENURE and PROMOTED to Associate Professor. Go Figure.

As I said earlier, I had many, many opportunities to speak and give testimony to G^d, the G^D of all Comfort.

After the case was done, I went back to speaking of Christ, and at the court's direction I had to seek and obtain the Uni's permission to give my talk on Evidence of G^d.  Every time I asked for permission, it was granted, without exception.

After 10 years and at the earliest time, I was promoted to the highest rank--FULL Professor--and since pay raises are always based on a percentage of existing salary at the earliest possible moment really helped my salary.  Go figure.

In the end, being in Federal Court for 3.5 years because of my Christian faith is one of the best experiences of my life, and second only to salvation and my marriage. I LOVED my career. G^d blessed me and my family so abundantly--and still does.

Thanks be to G^d!

Jesus gave His life for me and for you. Let's live a LIFE of Thanksgiving, M-Sat as well as Sunday.

Life review: My 3.5 years in Court Part 4

Last time I ended talking about the GREAT side of persecution. I do indeed want to underscore that aspect of it. This part will talk a bit about the legal side of things.

After a couple of years of lawsuit, Judge Foy Guin finally handed down a verdict in the Bishop v Aaronov case. (Aaronov was the first name on the list of the University Board of Trustees). Our attorneys had asked for a summary judgement, which meant there was no "trial" in the calling witnesses sense. Simply, the Judge studied the writting information and made a decision based on the facts of the case. Judge Guin decided in MY favor, that the US Constitution First Amendment was included JUST for situations like mine.  We won!  Go figure!

I was planning our big celebration when our attorneys wisely said, "Not so fast."  And they were right.

Within a short time the University had filed an appeal of Judge Guin's opinion to the 11th Ciricuit Court of Appeals.  Go figure. Here we go again. At least this time I didn't have to do much.

Brenda, Daniel and I drove over to ATL to hear the arguments. Judge Birch challenged the UA attorney on "will the university be monitoring all prof's speech all the time to ascertain what can and cannot be said?"  Wow, I was ready to plan another celebration.  "Not so fast!" said my attorneys, and once again they were right.

In a terrible decision, from my perspective, they said that any employer could rule as to what any employee could say in their work.  What happened to the First Amendment?

I wasn't the only one who found the decision in what was now Bishop v Coleman. A famous University Law school Professor at the univ. of Chicago found the decision so objectionable that he volunteered to write our Supreme Court Brief for nothing.  And that was good, because NOTHING accurately described the funds I had available.

He wrote a brilliant Supreme Court Brief, but despite this, we were denied a hearing. It was now OVER.  Well not quite, one more post will summarize what happened next.

Life review: My 3.5 years in Court Part 3

The last post, I mentioned trying to extra kind to my "enemies". In one instance, Brenda and I were at the house of the guy who had given me the memo demanding my silence regarding Christianity.

Everyone else was down in the den watching a football game. Brenda, me, and his wife were in his kitchen where she was pouring me a refill of my cup of coca cola. As she poured, I called her name and said, "D. I want to tell you how much I have benefited from C's leadership. Your husband has been a great leader for me."

I was the LAST person she expected to hear complimenting her husband. I wish I had a photo of that moment. Her chin almost hit her shiny island counter-top across from me.  Wow, just wow. I was sold, and took every opportunity to show kindness to the "other side". The key attorney fighting for the memo had a sick daughter. I went by his office to ask as to her welfare. It was the least I could do.

I was the "flavor of the month" later in the court case. I was speaking all over the place. Christian Profs wanted me to speak all the time, and I was thrilled to talk about what happened. Eventually, I realized the reason this group wanted to hear was so that they could learn how to STAY OUT of this kind of situation.

I found that a bit odd, because I was feeling G^d's presence in a special way throughout this long ordeal. Few US Christians ever have their faith tested, but here I was.  Thank you L^rd!

Which leads to a speaking story. I was invited to speak to a large adult Sunday School at a large Episcopal Church in Birmingham. I gave my spiel, and entertained some good questions. Afterwards we were headed for our car. I was accosted by an attorney who was part of the class. He excitedly told me how I was wrong to mention Christ on campus, and needed to obey my employer. As soon as he paused, his quiet wife interjected. "Honey, do you remember when one of our daughter's professors attacked her Christian faith in class?" His demeanor changed 180 degrees.

Another "Kodak moment". Wow, being persecuted was turning out to be a lot of work, but a lot of REGARDS too.  G^d says we should "COUNT IT ALL JOY when you encounter various trials...".

Only recently I read Matt 5:10-12. It had never really struck me until this time. Take a look and tell me what you think about persecution now.

Life review: My 3.5 years in Court Part 2

Last post I told you that I had been prohibited from speaking about Christianity on the campus where I worked. I had sworn an oath as a midshipman, and as a commissioned US Navy officer to support and defend the Constitution of the USA. I had flown over 3500 hours in defense of our country and our freedoms. I viewed the university's prohibition of content-specific speech to be a violation of my First Amendment rights to Free Speech and Free Exercise of Religion.

A knowledgeable friend arranged for me to meet with a group of Christian attorneys (not an oxymoron). They grilled me about all aspects of work, apparently to ensure i wasn't using this issue to cover up some other malfeasance on my part. After the grilling, they let me know that my ONLY recourse against the memo prohibiting my speaking about the Christ, would be to file suit against the Uni., something they didn't necessarily recommend, given my financial circumstances.

Again, after prayer and discussion we...filed a Federal lawsuit in the Northern District of Alabama.

What?

I had NO idea what was coming. We were NOT asking for damages, just relief from the censorious memo. And this was the start of a looooong ordeal.

A few months later began discovery. This meant hours of preparation and supplying scores of documents, followed by an extensive deposition, a grilling by the Univ. Attorneys.

To this day I am totally unsure HOW I was able to do all the work that this case required, whilst still doing my teaching, research and service, plus taking care of my young and growing family. Somehow I did--perhaps in the same way that as newlyweds, Brenda and I seemed to be spending and giving more than we were making, and yet never ran out of money.

And, while in the midst of all this, I heard from G^d. At the end of Romans 12, there is a quotation from Proverbs that says, "If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat, and if he is hungry give him something to drink. For in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head."And Proverbs adds, "And the L^rd will reward you."

I figured, G^d know what He is speaking of, so let's give 'er a try. And we did. Read about it in the next post.