Wednesday, August 15, 2007
A few bite-sized blogs this morning:* Brooke Astor died this week at age 105, a truly remarkable woman. Over the course of managing her enormous wealth, she gave away about $200 million. Shannon Lawler sent me THIS LINK to an article about her life and death. Her most famous quote is in the article (“Money is like manure, it should be spread around.”), but my favorite line is the one that said she was “as comfortable in a Harlem youth center as she was in a Fifth Avenue penthouse.” That’s Jesus-like.
* I’ve had a couple of rough days at work recently, but nothing I cannot overcome. Just a reminder that although lots of things about my job may get to me, boredom isn’t one of them.
* Our friends, John and Jinger Kelley, called last night with news that their second daughter arrived safely yesterday! We celebrate the appearance of little Olivia in the world, a little girl blessed with wonderful parents and a beautiful big sister!
* We went to watch some high school volleyball last night (Ocean Springs vs. Resurrection). We’ve been out of the loop since our daughter graduated three seasons ago, so it was odd not to recognize many faces. We went to see our friend, Kelsey (the varsity captain this year!), as well as our friend, Emily (starting her career following in the footsteps of her three big sisters). Emily was in kindergarten when we met the Smith family and Erica and Marianne (Emily’s sister) played JV together. Now Emily is the age they were then… I am really getting old quick!
* I started another book yesterday afternoon, “Becoming Conversant With the Emerging Church” by D.A. Carson. I have read excerpts from this book and am familiar with its analysis, so I’m not super-excited to start it (plus, it’s an academic book, which is always a challenge for me), but I’m interested in the subject matter for two important reasons: (1) I will be teaching a class on the topic soon, and (2) I think it’s talking about me.
* Oh, and a little sports headline says the Cardinals are "lurking." They are still sub-.500, but they are miraculously only 4 1/2 games out of first in the NL Central. Thought I'd point that out and officially jinx us.
That’s all I have this morning. Time to get started on my sermon for Sunday: “Daring to Imitate Jesus,” based on the Matthew 14 text of Jesus and Peter’s adventures walking on the water.
