Sunday, December 31, 2006

 
I realize I'm running the risk of exposing a preschool underage drinking scandal with the publication of this picture, but not to worry, Emily was not the designated driver tonight. :-)

Plus, it's sparkling grape juice.

Our friends, Tracy & Shanna, invited us over tonight, and we had a really good time. My wife & daughters made it back to town today, and after a long day's drive, both Jody & Erica went home early. Jody is sleeping as I type (partly from the drive, partly because she has to work New Year's Day). Erica just went to bed.

Hillary wanted to stay at Tracy & Shanna's, so we stayed until about 11pm when our rollicking party broke up for the night. So we're at home now. It's 11:20pm, and Hillary wants me to stay up until midnight with her, and I've missed her so much this week that I probably will. I'm not sure I could sleep with all the fireworks in the neighborhood right now anyway.

So 2006 is basically over, huh? It's been quite a year in many ways; thankfully, not a hurricane-infested year. My personal goal when the year began (and the same goal I preached to my church family the first Sunday in 2006) was simply to be a "survivor." We were Katrina-weary at the beginning of 2006, and my lofty goal was simply to survive 2006.

And I guess we have.

So, after I see the new year in with Hillary, I plan to go to bed and sleep well.

Saturday, December 30, 2006

 
I’ll begin with a couple of admissions: (1) I’m a sucker for an inspirational sports movie, and (2) I have very little talent in the world of movie reviews. So take my “two thumbs up” pronouncement for “We Are Marshall” with a grain of salt; my blog-friend Mr. Reel Fanatic and most major reviewers weren’t using a lot of superlatives for this movie in their columns.

But I thought it was outstanding!

The plane crash that prompted this story occurred a couple of months after I was born, and I thought the movie captured the emotion of such a horrible event as best as possible (the horror of the plane crash, mind you, not my birth, though my mom might disagree). The stars of the movie performed admirably, and in an emotional story such as this, I think Matthew McConaughey’s humorous portrayal of Coach Jack Lengyel was perfect.

In retrospect, I can see Reel Fanatic’s point about the emotional stories of those dealing with their grief being somewhat scattered and disconnected. But I guess that made it seem a bit more realistic to me, since tragedy on that level feels scattered and disconnected anyway. But as a moviegoer who would like to get involved in the storylines of the characters, he has a good point.

Still, for my money, it was worth the $3.75 for the matinee and two hours of my afternoon. In fact, I think I got quite a deal.

CAUTION: SCENE SPOILER AHEAD!

I’ll share my favorite scene from the movie for anyone who might be interested. I loved it when Coach Lengyel admitted that his favorite offense wouldn’t work with the ragtag team he had assembled and began brainstorming with his coaching staff. Coach Red Dawson suggested running the veer as a possibility and mentioned that their rival, West Virginia University, was the best at running it. So Coach Lengyel decided to go ask WVU coach, Bobby Bowden, for some advice!

In addition to his boldness (which I loved!), I equally loved Coach Bowden’s reaction! His willingness to share his knowledge with a rival who had undergone such tragedy, combined with the scene revealing that he had stickers attached to his team’s helmets in honor of Marshall, was poignant.

I left that particular scene with both a commitment to go to unconventional places to pursue something worth pursuing AND a commitment to honor even my enemies when they are hurting. Both of which are life lessons worth a heck of a lot more than the $3.75.

LITTLE-KNOWN MARSHALL TRIVIA:

* Billy Crystal attended Marshall for one year on a baseball scholarship!
* Singer, Michael W. Smith, is a Marshall alum.

Friday, December 29, 2006

 
With my work done for the week and my family out of town, I decided to do one of my favorite things in the world to do (particularly given those aforementioned circumstances), and I spent the day in New Orleans taking pictures.

With all due modesty, I'll have to admit that I ended up with a LOT of good pictures. You'll have to check out my Webshots page (linked in the left-hand column) where I plan to put my top 20 from today in its very own folder.

This is my third post-Katrina trip to New Orleans, and as with the other two times, you cannot miss the telltale signs. I'm not sure of the cause, but there was a completely awful smell that seeped into the car around Crowder Boulevard (Exit 242) as I entered the city, and I simply assumed it had something to do with the sights along the sides of the Interstate there. I exited at Elysian Fields (a.k.a. the Lower Ninth Ward) and drove around the area for a while. There were definitely a lot more people than last year at this time, but it is still an awful mess. Simply sad...

Afterwards, I drove to the French Quarter where I spent my day. There may be better photo-opportunistic places in the world, but I'm not aware of any. I had a blast.

The picture above came from when I stumbled upon the shooting of a Sugar Bowl commercial on Royal Street. And that was just the beginning of the day. Check out the photo album to see...

I wore my new "Arkansas" t-shirt Erica gave me for Christmas, and I got a few "Woo Pigs" remarks every once in a while. The most surprising came at the end of Bourbon Street while I was photographing Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop. The crew that stopped me included Jerry & Melinda Cobb, a couple I knew from many years ago now! They had tagged along as cooks for Jonesboro, Arkansas's "Youth in Action" crew that is in New Orleans this week (specifically, Chalmette), gutting homes and literally becoming "youth in action." They were wandering the Quarter, too, and it was really cool to see them.

I've been an amateur photographer for around four years now, and my interest has waxed and waned along the way. Well, it's getting all waxy again, and New Orleans was a great kickoff for a bunch of new projects I have in mind.

Well, I've got to go work on my pictures!

Thursday, December 28, 2006

 
To protect both the innocent and the guilty, I won't divulge names of the people or places that comprised my afternoon. Suffice it to say that I spent the afternoon visiting with a friend who is in recovery.

He seems to have it, and by "it" I think you know what I mean: he has the will to recover. He has repented, to use the tired religious phrase, but to risk sounding skeptical I think there is a long way to go. He has hit the bottom and begun to look up, but the road ahead is long, and the demons are crouching in the shadows. Oh, I'm not questioning his commitment or his chances at succeeding. I'm just saying that there's a long road ahead of him.

The facility was impressive. It was the first time I had been to this particular location, and I found it to be a really neat place. And my friend is a disciple for sure. He sings its praises and credits it with helping turn around his crazy mixed-up life.

It is an unashamedly Christian recovery program, at odds in many ways with the more traditional techniques. This came out rather quickly when my friend explained his discovery that he wasn't so much an addict as he was a sinner. He discovered that it wasn't alcohol or drugs specifically - it could have been anything. The root problem was spiritual, as is his celebrated solution.

I can't help but think about it all tonight. Somewhere in a treatment facility I have a friend who is in recovery. And isn't recovery where we all ought to be tonight?

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

 
One of the neat things about "church" this time of year is the chance to see so many old friends when they come home for the holidays. Tonight was great for that reason exactly.

The picture above is of the last folks standing (other than me) after all the visiting. We had class for an hour tonight, then stayed and talked for another hour. The talking afterwards was a whole lot better than the class I taught.

The Shows family is one of the neatest families I've ever met. Bill, the patriarch (pictured above), is the guy who put the "gentle" in gentleman, and you will never meet a finer person. He is also defined by the word "unassuming." He moved to Pensacola from Ocean Springs a couple of years ago, and we all found out about it after he was gone! He just doesn't like drawing attention to himself. But much to our delight, a few weeks ago, Bill moved back to Ocean Springs with about as much fanfare as his departure. We are so lucky to have him back around.

Part of the reason we're lucky to have him around is that his kids will come and visit us, too! You will be hard-pressed to find a family that has such an impressive set of siblings, and there are SIX in all! The three not pictured (Becky in Texas, Jesse in Arizona, and Luke in Florida) should grace our church family at some point along the way, and we will be excited to see them. Tonight, we got the chance to enjoy the three beautiful ladies pictured above (Johnie Carol from Colorado, and Vanessa & Lisa who both live in North Carolina now).

The matriarch of the family was JoNan, and she was the most unforgettable person in the whole family. She had been battling cancer for years before I arrived in Ocean Springs, and even though cancer is a brutal opponent, JoNan won most of the time. She was fearless, and just by being fearless, she inspired all of us. She fought cancer for ten years before laying down to rest.

But boy did she leave quite a legacy behind in this special family.

I love all the Shows, but Lisa (far right) is extra special to me. I moved to Ocean Springs in February of 1999, and Lisa was a senior in high school. One month after I moved here I had the chance to drive her to a youth rally in Baton Rouge to catch up with the youth group since she had to work the night before. I was blown away by her maturity at that age, but even more than that, I was amazed to hear her speak about her family. Lisa is the youngest, and she spoke with awe about her siblings and the way they lived their lives. She told me of motherly Becky, and successful Luke, and footloose Johnie Carol backpacking across Europe; she talked of independent Jesse and fun-loving Vanessa at Pepperdine and her plans to follow Vanessa there. With such a family ahead of her, Lisa could not help being extra special.

Lisa had the chance to eat lunch with my Erica yesterday, and I couldn't have been happier. She's the kind of person I would love to have both my daughters spend time with every day.

But we just get chances like this during the holidays it seems. So I'll just count my blessings...

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

 
Read it and weep, non-believers! Take a long gander at the picture taken at my house yesterday morning and consider: I'VE GOT PROOF!!!

'Twas the day after Christmas, and I went back to work... As did many (but not all) of you...

The day after Christmas is so anti-climatic. I mean, we've waited a whole year to take a full day off, open presents, eat ourselves silly, watch parades & football and just hang out with our family and friends...

And then it's over.

Now we say with much-less excitement: only 364 more shopping days 'til Christmas!!!

But there's good news still to be had: only 6 more days until another federal holiday!!!!

Monday, December 25, 2006

 
A Christmas morning wish for a happy holiday from my family to yours...

Sunday, December 24, 2006

 
'Twas the night before Christmas, and I'm ready to go get some sleep!!!

We had a really nice worship time with our church family this morning, and then after two full days my wife spent cooking, we enjoyed a really nice evening meal with some friends from that church family tonight!

It started with Tom & Laura, our South Dakota friends who are here in South Mississippi courtesy of the United States Air Force. They are far away from family, so Jody asked them over for dinner tonight.

It continued with Jackie and her son, Will. Jackie's husband (Sean) is a nurse with the United States Air Force, and they also would be separated from family this evening - PLUS Sean had to work tonight, so Jody also invited Jackie & Will.

Then yesterday, Jody found out our friends, Tracy & Shanna, were going to be sitting at home on Christmas Eve because of a break in all their various family commitments this holiday season, so they came over with their children, Freddy, Tristen, and sweet Emily (pictured above).

Lots of great food and conversation, along with some friendly crokinole action & a few games of darts in the garage. It was a really nice Christmas Eve.

Well, there are some cookies & milk with my name on them (well, close enough to my name), so I'd better get to my normal Christmas Eve work!

Merry Christmas everyone...

Saturday, December 23, 2006

 

It's been a very nice & lazy day.

Our oldest took our youngest (and a couple of her buddies) to see "Night at the Museum" today, and they had a blast. Is it just me, or are there a bunch of movies coming out this Christmas that look very good? I heard a good report on "Rocky Balboa" last night, and I know I want to see "We Are Marshall" sometime. With my track record, I probably won't get around to seeing any of them, but they look good at least.

Anyway, our girls little movie trip allowed my wife & I to spend some time together getting ready for Christmas, but more importantly, also have a great conversation. That made today great, all by itself.

Friday, December 22, 2006

 
I ventured out of the house for the first time this week, pretty much because I needed to do a few things at the church building before our Christmas Eve service on Sunday. I felt lightheaded the whole time and wondered if it was a good idea after all.

I almost backed out of going to our friends (Matt & Hollie's) tonight, but after considering that I'd just be sitting around our house anyway, I figured I could sit around theirs, too. And I'm very glad I did.

We have a lot of neat friends, and our resident fireworks expert (Herman, pictured above) brought in another huge haul to entertain the kids (and adults, too!). I don't guess we shot off any Christmas fireworks in Northeast Arkansas when I was a kid, but the great weather on the Gulf Coast combined with the early New Years Eve fireworks sale makes it a good idea.

We only had one VERY exciting moment tonight, when one of the fireworks tipped over and shot at the crowd. I had pretty much the closest view, but to tell the truth I'm still so drained from being sick this week that I didn't get too excited about it! More funny than scary...

It's been a good night. Speaking of good nights, good night.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

 
The rumors are true.

Though I'm still not completely out of the "low in the gravy lay" part of my illness, I feel the tense anticipation of the (much faster) "up from the gravy arose" chorus just around the corner. I had to go to the bullpen twice tonight for two events I would have liked to have attended, but maybe after one more day, I'll be able to venture out of the house again.

One piece of good news: I've not had to put gas in my car this week.

I've developed one more appreciation to share: for those placed in solitary confinement. Even though my family has been here off and on since Monday morning, I'm still about to go NUTS being here at home all the time.

In between the bouts of puking & his embarrassing cousin Monday & Tuesday, I did an awful lot of sleeping. That has now caught up to me. I woke up yesterday morning about 4am unable to go back to sleep, and after being up all day yesterday, I decided to lay down for the night around 10:30pm last night.

Well...

I began on the couch. From there I moved to the daybed in my office. From there I moved to the living room floor. From there I moved to the hide-a-bed sofa. From there I just sat up in the darkness and watched the time go by... (well, in the darkness you can't really watch anything go by...). About 3am this morning I was FINALLY able to go to sleep, and that for about four whole hours. Now I've been up all day again.

On the up-side, I finished books 9 and 10 of "Series of Unfortunate Events," and tonight I'm pretty sure I'll finish book 11. Reading about the poor Baudelaire children does make me feel a bit better about myself.

But I digress...

I'm feeling better. And I've abandoned all longings for a life of crime, seeing as how such behavior could lead to a life of solitary confinement.

So overall, those are good things.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

 
I still don't know if what I have is the flu or not, but whatever it is, it didn't turn out to be a 24-hour-and-get-back-to-life sort of illness. We're into Day 3 here, and though I'm better, I'm not anywhere near back to full strength.

I have had the honor of becoming much better acquainted with both my bed and my bathroom in the last few days, along with lots of opportunity for reflection. And because of that, I now have a much greater appreciation for...

* People who are sick more than once every 2-3 years. You are superheroes.
* People who are assigned "bed rest" for a few weeks. I used to think that this sounded like good work if you could get it, but after just a couple of days, I have a new opinion.
* The soothing taste of Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup.
* The amount of liquid that resided in my body prior to Monday morning.
* Gatorade.
* The weight of my skull (I had no idea).
* People in the world who live without soft, two-ply toilet tissue.
* Ritz crackers.
* Crushed ice.

Tuesday was significantly better than Monday, but that isn't saying much. Kind of like comparing Saddam to Hitler. Today is better than yesterday.

So here's a 7-up toast to hoping tomorrow is even better than today...

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

 
I have the flu - or at least some mean stomach virus. Not pretty. You'll be glad to know I won't post any pictures.
:-)

Sunday, December 17, 2006

 
Today has just too much in it to blog about... Great morning with our church family, followed by a great lunch with our friends, Tom & Laura...

But a BIG highlight of our day was seeing our friends, Win and Susie (pictured above).

I met Susie first, years ago now, while sitting on the bleachers at the University of South Alabama watching our daughters play club volleyball with a club called "the Edge" in Mobile, Alabama. We soon found out that both our daughters were "Mississippi girls," which began a friendship between our family and theirs that was forged in countless Saturdays spannign several years sitting in gyms in places like Pensacola, Gulf Shores, Panama City, Tallahassee, and of course, Mobile.

Win and Susie are wonderful people, and they have raised an unbelievable daughter in Megan. It has been a true pleasure for all to us to be buddies with all of them.

When the volleyball ceased, we haven't had the chance to spend much time with their family. Which was why we were so excited to receive an invitation in the mail last week to attend a "Christmas Open House" at their home today. We weren't able to stay very long, but the time we spent there picked up our friendship right where it left off whenever we last had the chance to visit.

And when we left we promised to have each other over to our houses MUCH more often in the future. And in spite of the fact that statements like that often fall from the radar screen of life, we have every intention of keeping this promise.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

 
I really enjoyed this morning. My wife & I had the opportunity to enjoy two different Habitat for Humanity house dedications, the first in Pascagoula, and the second in Gautier. There is still work to be done on both houses, so humming Bing Crosby's "I'll Be Home For Christmas" may be a bit ambitious, but they should both be close to moving in by that time.

The Carlisles in Pascagoula have waited a VERY long time for this dream to come true. Between land problems and Katrina problems, they have waited three years from their selection date to see this day, but through it all, they have been a model of patient endurance. This sweet couple and their four kids are oh so close now to moving into their very own home, and they can finally taste it.

The Lacie White family in Gautier has not waited nearly so long after their selection, but in life terms they have also waited a long time. Lacie has been a pretty amazing person in her ability to overcome life struggles while still taking care of those around her. It was a pleasure to see her tears today because they were good tears - tears of dreams coming true.

At Lacie's new house (pictured above), my friends Gary Boswell & Rochelle Harper came out to inject the gift of music to the touching dedication service, and they were just perfect. I also enjoyed seeing my friends, Cole & Alison Raiford (Lacie's family partners through Habitat), and the wonderful job they've done as volunteers. Alison cried all through the words she shared, and her heart-felt emotions added the perfect touch to the day.

If you've never become involved with Habitat for Humanity, you might think about doing just that. And if you need an extra boost of motivation to do so, keep your eyes open for a dedication of new house in the affiliate closest to you. That ought to do the trick.

Friday, December 15, 2006

 
My wife was decorating for the all-church Christmas party tomorrow night. My oldest daughter was babysitting. My youngest daughter was supposed to be spending the night with a friend. I didn't know what I would end up doing tonight, but I had a sneaky suspicion I would end up helping decorate. Instead, my youngest daughter's plans were cancelled due to her friend's brother having the flu, so it suddenly became a father/daughter night (one of my personal favorites).

We started at the brand new McDonald's less than five minutes from our house (so new we didn't even know it was open for business yet - turns out this is day two). From there we went to downtown Ocean Springs, one of the neatest places in the world.

There weren't a ton of Christmas lights downtown (as we had hoped), but I don't care what time of year it is downtown Ocean Springs is a neat place to walk around anyway. And we enjoyed it tonight. Temperatures in the mid-50s (perfect jacket weather), a slight mist in the air with the fairly heavy fog, Christmas decorations in every store, and basically vacated streets - almost like everyone turned it over to a daddy and his little girl for a stroll tonight.

And it was good.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

 
It's been a nice day in many ways, and among the niceties was the elementary school sing-along I attended tonight.

The sing-along was intended for the 2nd grade, but we parents of many of the older kids got in on the fun when the music teacher invited the Songbirds (the elementary choir) to come and help out. (The picture is of Hillary and some of her Songbird buddies before the festivities began.)

There's something simply fun about Christmas carol sing-alongs, and that something is made even better when you are being led by a bunch of cute kids.

It's the hap-happiest time of the year, you know?

Now, someone bring me some figgy pudding...

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

 
Okay, boys and girls, I have an exercise for you guaranteed to sap the joy right out of your holiday season, followed by another exercise guaranteed to put the joy right back in.

"Why would I do such a silly thing" you ask? Well, it's admittedly not the best marketing sentence ever constructed, but I'll propose that the two exercises might very well be required coursework for those foolhardy people interested in following Jesus.

EXERCISE #1:
* Write down all the money you spend on people for Christmas this year (Joy gone already, huh? But we're not done yet...).
* Next to each person's name, label him or her as either fortunate or less-fortunate (fortunate being folks with food, clothing, shelter, health, parents, etc.).
* Get an elementary student to help you do the math & determine the percentage of money you spent on fortunate people versus the money you spent on the less-fortunate.

There you have it! Joy guaranteed to disappear before your very eyes!

EXERCISE #2:
* Take a gander at the picture above (My friends, Hollie and Stella, prepared this little gift basket photographed in my passenger seat. Contents: looks like fruit, candy, and a handmade note from a child.)
* Use the gift basket above as inspiration and develop something similar of your own.
* Take it to a nursing home (as Hollie asked me to do) or someplace similar where you will find LESS-fortunate people, and deliver it to someone there.

Okay, performing exercise #2 does not negate the huge discrepancy revealed by exercise #1, but it is a start. Planting a seed, if you will.

And maybe someday we'll find ourselves entering the holiday season focusing entirely on the latter, and in so doing, making the math problem look a whole lot more like the math of Jesus.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

 
Our church family welcomed another baby in the world last week when Daniel & Ashley Peebles met their son, Collin. I was in Arkansas at the time and had to miss the hospital visit with the family, but everything seemed to turn out fine without me. :-)

Daniel must be an amazing photographer. The picture above is one of several that I've received via email, and when I spoke to Ashley today, I had to know the identity of the photographer!!! She told me that Daniel has taken a lot better pictures of the baby than the ones I've seen, but they were either too big to send by email or of little fingers, toes, etc. that they thought nobody would want to see.

I loved the pictures they sent yesterday of the first meeting between big sister (Charley) and baby brother (Collin). There's a sweet picture of the two of them together, followed by a picture of Charley bopping her baby brother on the head (Daniel caught this one perfectly!). Last, there was a picture of Charley crying after her first spanking for hitting her baby brother. Priceless stuff.

Collin is still in the hospital five days after his birth due to his difficulty breathing, but he is doing okay overall. They hope for him to be breathing on his own by tomorrow or so, and then he will need to remain in the hospital for 48 hours just to be sure everything is okay.

So add Collin to your prayers, along with his wonderful family.

Monday, December 11, 2006

 
Tonight was our "men's night out" at Buffalo's Wild Wings in Pascagoula. Around 16 or 17 guys showed up to enjoy the all-you-can-eat wings, some Monday Night Football, and more importantly, good conversation with each other.

Marion Stone (foreground on the right of the picture) has been responsible for several great events since joining our church family - in addition to two big nights at Buffalo's for the guys, he's also coordinated fun for the whole family watching minor league baseball in Mobile, Alabama. We are VERY blessed to have Marion & his family as part of our church family.

Marion is in the Coast Guard, and he has to leave a few days before Christmas to help protect our nation for a couple of months. While most of us enjoy Christmas with our families, he will have to be away from his own.

Say a prayer for Marion (and many others like him) this holiday season.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

 
Guess what today is at our house? That's right! Christmas Light Hanging Day! (And no comments please on my skinny white chicken legs - Hillary took this picture, and she's sensitive when her subjects are criticized.)

You'll be proud to know that there have been no curse words uttered (yet), nor marital strife (yet). Then again, we're knew at this Christmas light business, so give us some time (our neighbor is doing the same thing, but most of her lights don't work this year - she is NOT in a merry mood. Yet.).

We've never hung Christmas lights before, but we're appreciating a lot of new things since the hurricane caused us to start over without asking our permission. And, for the most part, this is a good thing.

Everyone sing along now...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Saturday, December 09, 2006

 
I enjoyed the morning with my mom and oldest sister. I enjoyed stopping for supper with my oldest daughter.

In between, 8 hours and 500 miles of being on the road.

I don't listen to the radio much. Today, I listened to a little "Holly" (Christmas music) on XM Radio, as well as a little bit of Real Jazz. Other than that, I rode in silence, alone with my thoughts.

Hope you all had a good Saturday.

Friday, December 08, 2006

 
I've had a great day in Arkansas with my mom and sisters for my mom's 70th birthday.

We picked up my sister, Jacki, from the airport in Jonesboro at noon, then went to Chili's for lunch. Our waitress there was awfully impressive: she finished her biochemistry final this morning as a pre-med major, was waiting tables this afternoon at Chili's, and is on a track & field scholarship there at A.S.U. You just have to give a young woman like that a really nice tip.

Afterwards, we went back to my mom's apartment and just spent the afternoon talking. Tonight, we went to my sister, Sandy's, beautiful new home, ordered pizza, ate birthday cake, and had an unbelievably wonderful night of conversation. In particular, we found ourselves talking about "dad" who died twelve years ago now. Just about everyone teared up at some point or another while remembering poignant moments from that unforgettable part of our lives.

What a good day.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

 
Okay, I know the picture is really dark, but if you look really close you can see my mom's face as I'm saying SURPRISE!!!!

My mom's seventieth birthday is tomorrow, so we pulled together this little plan for both my oldest sister (in Texas) and myself (in Mississippi) to make the 500-mile trip(s) to join our sister in Arkansas so my mom could spend the special day with all three of her kids.

I told several people that my mom was pretty hard to sneak ANYTHING by, and I was right. She had already pretty much figured out that we were coming, but at least she had NO idea I would be showing up today - so as you can tell from the poorly-lit picture that at least there was SOME surprise involved!

My mom & I enjoyed watching one of my favorite movies together tonight (Secondhand Lions), and we also enjoyed a great Arkansas catfish & hushpuppies dinner together.

But there was something special to me about the catfish dinner:

When I was a kid, I bought baseball cards thirty cents at a time down at Seibert's Grocery store. Along the way, my dad was laid off from the meat-packing company (his reward for loyalty = being laid off so someone younger would do his job for lesser pay). Since my dad was fifty years older than me, he took the best route in a bad situation and began drawing some Social Security while working part-time at Seibert's Grocery (after Mr. Seibert died). So I spent a LOT of time in that little neighborhood store, buying lots of candy (and baseball cards) from that old candy counter and lots of icy bottled sodas (Dr. Peppers, Nugrapes, and Frostie Root Beers in particular) from that old soda cooler with the bottle openers on the side.

Well, old Seibert's Grocery store is in the same location, but it is now Seventh Street Market. It doesn't look like much, but it serves some awesome fish dinners.

But best of all...

That same old candy counter is there. And that same old soda cooler.

Tonight could not have felt more nostalgic.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

 
A picture of Jeff Richardson (far right) & family unashamedly stolen from his website!

My friend, John Dobbs, is undoubtedly the king of the blog world. There are no rivals.

John's personal blog is a regular meal for so many people in the world (he told me his secret, but I'm not telling!). In addition to all the neat stuff he posts there, he's started doing us all a service and sifting through a thousand blogs or so and picking out some highlights for the rest of us. Today, he linked to my old friend Jeff Richardson.

This was neat because I had lost track of where Jeff Richardson was in this world, and although John doesn't know Jeff personally, his blog presence hooked the two of us up again, which is just pretty cool.

I transferred to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville at the beginning of my sophomore year in the fall of 1989, and my roommate and I began attending the North Street Church of Christ. It took about two seconds for me to start hearing the name of Jeff Richardson, though he was actually nowhere to be seen. If I remember correctly, he had an engineering internship that semester, so he wasn't around the campus ministry at all, but I could tell from all the Jeff references that he was a central figure to the group. And to be honest, revealing a personal character flaw here, that simple fact made me suspect I wouldn't like him.

You probably know what I expected: the self-centered, arrogant, God's gift to the world type of person. And nothing could have been further from the truth.

It turned out that Jeff was both humble and hilarious (two VERY good traits in my book). He was also brilliant and talented, but those were only icing on the cake to me. His goofy sense of humor combined with that Jesus-style humility made him the life of the party in the way someone ought to be the life of the party.

I guess in a way he did sort of turn out to be God's gift to the world after all.

Before long, I was a part of a prayer group at my apartment that involved Jeff. I guess praying together is a way to know a person's heart, and I was blessed to get to know his.

It doesn't surprise me that cruising around Jeff's blogs and picture pages today revealed that he's lived a neat life since our good old days at the University of Arkansas. He married a great girl in Trisha (the sister of my best friend in Fayetteville) and has two wonderful daughters. His intellect is still about a gazillion light years ahead of most of the world, but his infatuation with Jesus is obviously as strong as ever.

Thanks, John, for stumbling across Jeff in your trek across the worldwide web. Just the name brought back some great memories.



Tuesday, December 05, 2006

 
Although we've never met in person, the magic of the World Wide Web allows me to say that I have a friend named Tom in New York who sent me a Brian McLaren trilogy recently, and today I finished book number three.

I had heard McLaren's name through its common association with the "emerging church" movement, but I had never read anything from him. I'd seen his name associated with Tony Campolo's before, which left me with a positive prejudice, but you never really know what to expect until you read someone for yourself.

I'll have to say that I had considered many of the thoughts he presents in this trilogy before myself, though as I read more and more I encountered many brand new thoughts, too. All interesting, and for many I'm sure it is safe to say all "far out there" too. Definitely not your typical pastor.

As I came to the end of book number three today, I ran across an idea I had heard before (and now I know where that popular speaker stole the idea!). But this idea was put so eloquently that I thought I'd share it on my blog tonight. Many of McLaren's major thoughts are conceptual in nature and open to (to use his term) conversation, but this particular section is simply wonderful in my humble opinion and should be popularly discussed across the board.

Framed in the story, this is a fictional email from a recovering fundamentalist named Chip to... well... another recovering fundamentalist named Dan (who just happens to be further along a new way of understanding the Christian gospel). Here it is:

"In my way of telling the gospel, what you call the modern Western way, there were always two key questions: (1) If you were to die tonight, do you know for certain that you'd go to be with God in heaven? (2) If Jesus returned today, would you be ready to meet God? Jesus is important because he paid for your sins when he died on the cross, so if you die tonight, or if Jesus returns today, you'll be forgiven and can enter heaven.

"But in this new understanding of the gospel, two very different questions come to mind: (1) If you were to live for another fifty years, what kind of person would you like to become - and how will you become that kind of person? (2) If Jesus doesn't return for ten thousand or ten million years, what kind of world do we want to create? Here Jesus is important because he leads you and forms you to become a better and better person, and the kind of people who truly follow his way will create a good and beautiful world.

"The first set of questions, which used to satisfy me, don't anymore, at least not on their own. I'm realizing that both sets of questions have validity, and the second may be more important. I guess that's obvious to you, but it's just dawning on me."

Now that's worth thinking about if you ask me...

Monday, December 04, 2006

 
A pic borrowed from Google images...

The Singing River Mall in Gautier, Mississippi, is not much of a mall. In spite of that fact, Santa Claus himself was there tonight, but when I walked by his little Christmas land, he was sitting all alone. I avoided eye contact with him, figuring he must have been a bit embarrassed. I was embarrassed for him. I mean, when Santa Claus can’t get some love…

But the Singing River Mall is five minutes from my house, and it has a bookstore, so the combination of those two facts led me to spend some time there tonight.

The main reason I went was because Book 8 in the Lemony Snicket “Series of Unfortunate Events” that I checked out from the library was missing the last chapter. Not wanting to buy the entire book to read one chapter, I decided to visit the bookstore and stand there long enough to finish the book. I wasn’t surprised to learn that those Baudelaire children just have the worst luck.

While I was there, I wandered around the bookstore for awhile (one of my favorite things to do):
* I wandered through the bestseller display, paying greatest attention to two books: the newest John Grisham book and “The Audacity of Hope” by Barack Obama. I like Obama personally, but when I read the quote highlighted on the back of the book, it didn’t motivate me to want to read the whole thing. I mean, if that’s the best quote…
* I wandered through the Christian section of the bookstore. I don’t mean to sound like a snob or anything, but I don’t get much out of the Christian section of popular bookstores. My attention was drawn to the newest Max Lucado book simply because of his Church of Christ connection, but for some reason none of the “popular” books appeal to me (ESPECIALLY the smiley Joel Osteen section)…
* I wandered through the classics section with interest. I’ve never done a lot of reading in the classics, but as I age, I lament that particular fact. I took a long gander at Tolstoy’s “War and Peace,” marveling at the 1400+ pages in the book. I’ve made a New Year’s resolution that I will read “War and Peace” in 2007, just because. After Christmas, I’ll try to pick up a cheap copy somewhere, and after I finish the Lemony Snicket series, I plan to tie into that monstrosity. I’ll tell you all about it as I go…
* I wandered up and down the sports aisle (of course). I noticed “Game of Shadows” and marveled at the fact that a sports book can actually be the cause of prison sentences. But the only book I felt compelled to pick up was some HUGE college football encyclopedia published by ESPN. I read a bit in it, but seriously, one needs to play college football just to be strong enough to hold that book very long. So I moved on…
* Before I left, I spent a little time in the Hurricane Katrina display. I noticed the book, “The Great Deluge,” a copy of which is actually sitting on my nightstand at home. Another of the several books I’m planning to read sometime soon. But the book I picked up was titled, “Love Letters to the South.” (Or something like that.) It was actually a book of copies of real letters from celebrities to the ravaged Gulf Coast, something I found rather neat and personal. Johnny Depp and Jon Bon Jovi and so on and so on took the time to write letters to people like me. Before I knew it, I had flipped through every page in the book, and on the last page I noticed a letter from Jackie Chan. He offered the familiar quote that it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. He closed by wishing the Coast a million candles. From personal experience, that made me smile.

Monday night at a bad mall in a cookie-cutter bookstore. Works for me.


Sunday, December 03, 2006

 

Personal computer problems prevented my posting something yesterday, breaking my consecutive day string!!! Aaarrrrghh!!! But a nice Middle Eastern lady working for Bell South technical support helped me rectify the situation tonight.

Anyway, let me tell you that the Single Parent Network was unbelievably good. Rarely can you say that EVERYTHING went well, but EVERYTHING went well. There were 11 impressive single parents who attended with their kids, and there were instant connections made. One left a bit early, but every one of the ten around at the end to fill out the evaluation form said they would come back to another meeting.

And... though this wasn't our focus, three of the single-parent families came to worship with us this morning, stayed for class, and two of the three went out to lunch with some of our church family.

How neat!

And I'm in a great mood because of that...

Friday, December 01, 2006

 
If all December is like its first day, I'm going to have a really good month. And I'm going to be really tired.

Today was long only in terms of hours (15 hour day), but it was a great day when it came to people:
* I spent the morning getting some things ready for our big Single Parent Network kickoff tomorrow, which allowed me to spend some time with Marcie Jenkins and then have a great visit with Eileen Logan (which I needed)
* I had lunch with my great friend, Bruno. Although I did most of the talking, I kind of needed to talk there, too, and there is no one better than Bruno for the conversation. In addition, I had the honor of meeting his wife, Linda, for the very first time.
* This evening, we put in about five hours with a LOT of great people from our church family desperately getting all the finishing touches together for the Single Parent Network. I left at 10pm, and there were four ladies still working hard. I was reminded of how many good people we have in our church family, and that folks will show up for a cause more than anything else.

But my highlight of the day was seeing my old friend, Eric Delage (pictured above). I met Eric not long after I began preaching in Ocean Springs, and I discovered him to be a wonderfully interesting person. He grew up in a different branch of Christian faith, and for some reason or another we connected with one another. At one point, completely on his own (and in private), he wanted me to baptize him. It was my honor of course, an honor I haven't forgotten.

Eric is an independent person and approaches life in his own way, and all this I find very engaging. After the Air Force transferred him away from us five years ago, he has traveled all over the world. I've received the occasional email from him from places like England, Korea, and even Bahrain. He is currently stationed in Virginia, but who knows where he will go from here.

I hated that today was busy, so our visit had to be short-circuited. And tomorrow he flies back to Virginia. But it was neat tonight to see him, even if the visit was a short one.

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