Minutes to Memories

2008-03-26T16:34:00.000-05:00

I'VE MOVED MY BLOG!!!!!!!!!!

For all who read this blog and/or have it linked/bookmarked somewhere, please change my address to http://alsturgeon.wordpress.com/

Come check it out and stay in touch...

(John Dobbs will be SUCH a jerk about this.)
:-)

2008-03-25T15:32:00.002-05:00

COUNTDOWN: 132 days

Things to do today:
* More painting of Erica’s room tonight!
* Received my financial aid package from Pepperdine via email today!

Malibu fact of the day:
* The first working model of a laser was demonstrated by Dr. Theodore Maiman in 1960 in Malibu at then Hughes Research Laboratory (now known as HRL Laboratories LLC).

What I'll miss about Ocean Springs today:
* I know I’ll miss the Ocean Springs School District no matter how good the schools in Malibu are… We have had a terrific experience here.

What I'm thinking today:
* I’m getting ahead of myself, but my brain has been dwelling on what it will be like to be a lawyer – trying to get a picture for myself…

2008-03-24T17:09:00.001-05:00

COUNTDOWN: 133 days

Things to do today:
* I called my friend, Roland, to begin the process of getting ourselves down to one car for our move to California
* Jody plans to start painting Erica’s room tonight, a process that will take up about every evening this week

Malibu fact of the day:
* The population is 12,575 (which will be the smallest town I’ve ever lived in!)

What I'll miss about Ocean Springs today:
* The Studio (Hillary’s dance studio). You can read about it HERE.

What I'm thinking today:
* Listening to someone try out for my job this Sunday will be weird!!!

2008-03-23T20:52:00.001-05:00

Emily on Miss Jody’s lap at the Seawolves game

TEN QUESTIONS:

1. Did I help make life better for anyone this week?
After an awkward court date recently, I was able to deliver Easter baskets to my CASA kids this week. The baskets were donated by a local organization, and I hope they made the kids smile.

2. Did I reach across lines that divide and meet someone new this week?
I had the honor of reading John 19: 1-37 in a Good Friday service at Christus Victor Lutheran in Ocean Springs at noon this past Friday, followed by attending a funeral at Bible Baptist Church in Pascagoula at 2pm. I enjoyed hanging out with my preacher friends in Ocean Springs as well as giving hugs to my grieving friends in Pascagoula, but I also enjoyed meeting new people in both places across denominational lines.

3. Did I learn anything worthwhile this week?
I learned from the cardiologist that my heart is in really great shape! Now, on to the gastrointestinal doctor in about ten days.

4. Did I spend time with close family and friends this week?
We really enjoyed a huge Easter dinner with our friends, the Smiths, today. They are such a special family to us, and we had a lot of fun hanging out there. With our impending move, it seemed like we talked way too much about us, but the Smiths are such gracious friends they didn’t seem to mind.

5. Did I take the time to notice nature this week?
We busted our tails working on our yard yesterday, but the day was so beautiful. When I stopped for lunch, I sat outside in a lawn chair (mostly because I was nasty!), and I should sit outside in lawn chairs more often. 70 degree temps, blue skies, cool breeze, and bumblebees and butterflies flitting around the air.

6. Did I have fun this week?
Tom and Laura coordinated a young adult group trip to a hockey game Friday night. Around 30 of us watched the Mississippi Seawolves put the hurt on the Texas Wildcatters to the tune of six goals to one. The Havards sat on our left, the O’Connells on our right, and the Raifords behind us. It was extra fun to have fun surrounded by such neat people.

7. Did I do my best at my job this week?
I delivered an Easter sermon for the 10th year in a row, and I did a pretty good job if you count how good you did by audience tears. I told the full story about Jade and seeing her at Mallonee’s wedding a couple of weeks ago, and it was interesting to see the tears scattered throughout the audience. Telling the story of Jade on Easter Sunday just seemed like the right thing to do.

8. Did I engage in a discussion of things that matter this week?
I have had mucho fun discussing Barack Obama’s speech on race with my Hungry Hungry Hippo friends. I love talking about important stuff there.

9. Did I read or hear or see a good story this week?
I read “Soul Among Lions: Musings of a Bootleg Preacher” by Will D. Campbell this week, and I also made progress on my other two books – “Jesus For President” by Shane Claiborne, and “Grace (Eventually)” by Anne Lamott. Lamott is irreverent, and there was a great line in her story about parenting her teenage son: "You've got to wonder what Jesus was like at seventeen. They don't even talk about it in the Bible, he was apparently so awful. " I know this is sacrilege to a few hundred million people, but it made me laugh out loud. Which is dangerous when you’re reading a book.

10. Did I feed my soul with music this week?
I have two new friends with the same name, and they took care of me in the world of music this week: (a) Jamie from Arkansas led me to my “crank it up” song of the week – “Lawyers, Guns, and Money” by Warren Zevon. I found a version on YouTube with Zevon performing unplugged on the BBC, and I’ve been singing the chorus all week long; (b) Jamey from Mississippi pointed me toward another great Todd Agnew song, “Mercy in Me.” I found this one on YouTube, too, and to tell the truth, I actually liked the video someone made to it even more than the song! Give it a search and check it out.

2008-03-23T20:34:00.000-05:00

COUNTDOWN: 134 days

Things to do today:
* Easter Sunday was recovery day for the Sturgeons after all the yard work yesterday. We enjoyed an Easter meal with our friends, the Smiths, and mostly did a lot of talking about our move.

Malibu fact of the day:
* Anyone remember “Battle of the Network Stars,” hosted by Howard Cosell? It was a tv special that came on every six months from 1976 through 1985 (my prime growing up years). Found out it was filmed on Pepperdine’s campus.

What I'll miss about Ocean Springs today:
* Our friends, the Smiths. I think this is the third Easter meal we’ve shared with them at their house. They are such neat people, and we’ll miss them a lot. I think we got commitments from at least Daniel and Marianne to come visit us sometime!

What I'm thinking today:
* After today’s sermon completed a full decade worth of Easter sermons, I’m realizing that I won’t be preaching an Easter sermon next year. I’m actually looking forward to sitting in the audience and listening!

2008-03-22T19:04:00.000-05:00

COUNTDOWN: 135 days

Things to do today:
* Wow, we got a lot accomplished today. In addition to Bill Collins coming and getting our piano, we did a ton of work outside. I mowed and did the weedeating everywhere for the first time this season, and Jody and Hillary stained the deck. We also spread mulch around the pool and deck, and Jody trimmed all the bushes and weeded the flowerbed, too. We will be SORE tomorrow!!!

Malibu fact of the day:
* You guys remember Western Auto? It was bought out by Sears Roebuck in 1987, and in 1998 what was left of it was sold to Advance Auto Parts. Well, the founder of Western Auto was George Pepperdine (who began the company with $5 in 1909). He made his fortune through the company, and then founded Pepperdine University in 1937 in Los Angeles. The university moved to Malibu in 1972.

What I'll miss about Ocean Springs today:
* We’ll miss our little friend, Emily. Tracy & Shanna brought her over tonight while they went out to dinner and a movie. Emily is our little buddy, and we’ll miss her a lot.

What I'm thinking today:
* I’ve got to be honest: since I HATE yard work, now that we’ve had a day full of it, I’m thinking how much I can’t wait to live in an apartment again!!!

2008-03-21T17:01:00.000-05:00

COUNTDOWN: 136 days

Things to do today:
* A rare day when we aren’t doing anything related to our impending move. Helped a friend from church get a new tire this morning, took part in a community Good Friday service at the Lutheran church at noon, followed by attending a funeral for a friend’s father at a Baptist church in Pascagoula. Tonight, our young adult group from church is going to a Mississippi Seawolves (hockey) game.

Malibu fact of the day:
* Actor Martin Sheen was named honorary mayor in 1989. Sheen's tenure is best known for his announcement on nationwide TV that the homeless were welcome in Malibu. Irate locals and neighbors disagreed, and Jerry Perenchko, one of Malibu's weathliest landowners, allegedly chartered a bus to ferry invited homeless to Sheen's residence. Sheen did not open his gates to welcome the homeless.

What I'll miss about Ocean Springs today:
* I was reminded today of how well the different Christian groups get along in Ocean Springs. There has been much pastor turnover in the nine years I’ve been here, so I’m now one of the old guys in town, but throughout the entire time I’ve been here there have been friendly attitudes between every flavor of Christianity.

What I'm thinking today:
* Today’s weather is gorgeous, and I’m thinking that this is normal Malibu weather, only without the biting gnats!

2008-03-20T11:36:00.000-05:00

COUNTDOWN: 137 days

Things to do today:
* Jody plans on finishing cleaning out the master bedroom closet tonight, which is probably about as big as our entire bedroom will be in Malibu. :-)
* I’m still trying to track down our major lead on selling our piano.

Malibu fact of the day:
* There has been one tornado in Malibu’s recorded history, and it struck a hanger at a naval base about two months ago.

What I'll miss about Ocean Springs today:
* Being an important part of Habitat for Humanity. I doubt I’ll ever NOT be involved with HFH, but being one of thirteen board members in the largest producing affiliate in the country makes for interesting times right now. Check us out HERE if you’d like.

What I'm thinking today:
* Today I’m thanking America for dropping the interest rate three-quarters of a point and hoping that might spur someone to buy our house. Our plan is to put it on the market three weeks from today.

2008-03-19T15:40:00.000-05:00

COUNTDOWN: 138 days

Things to do today:
* Not much to do on the moving front today. I am still trying to get our piano sold/moved, which is a must before getting the carpets stretched & cleaned. A guy is supposed to call me back today, and I sure hope he does.

Malibu fact of the day:
* Kenneth Starr (of Whitewater prosecutor fame) is dean of the law school at Pepperdine University. You can read his bio HERE.

What I'll miss about Ocean Springs today:
* I will miss eating a king cake around Mardi Gras time. So if anyone feels really sorry for me in this regard, feel free to ship one of Paul’s King Cakes to me next year (I prefer raspberry-filled if you don’t mind!).

What I'm thinking today:
* Today I'm thinking about how much fun it will be to drive on to campus after such a LOOONNNGGGG drive to California, and especially how cool it is to be married to a woman and the father of a child who are excited about moving somewhere they’ve never been. The first time Jody & Hillary will see Pepperdine in person will be when they pull on to campus with the U-Haul.

2008-03-18T16:10:00.001-05:00

COUNTDOWN: 139 days

Things to do today:
* Felt funny, but I declined offers of admission to five law schools today.
* Jody is planning to do some painting in the master bathroom tonight in an ongoing attempt to get the house ready to be put on the market.

Malibu fact of the day:
* The name Malibu is derived from a Native American word meaning “the surf sounds loudly.” I’m not kidding.

What I'll miss about Ocean Springs today:
* Hurricanes. Weird, I know, but I’ll miss them anyway. They’re exciting. Who knows, wildfire, earthquakes, and mudslides might be exciting, too.

What I'm thinking today:
* Today I'm thinking about how I haven’t been a college student in 13 years. Will this matter?

2008-03-17T16:40:00.000-05:00

COUNTDOWN: 140 days

Our move to California was confirmed 100% last week, so we are now in full countdown mode. Mainly because we have so much to do between now and then.

Things to do today:
* We have to sell a LOT of stuff because we need a LOT of money, and because we are moving from a wonderful house to a tiny apartment 2,000 miles away (not complaining, just saying). So today, I started working on getting our piano somewhere else. And tonight, the three of us get to spend our evening cleaning all the baseboards in the house - lots of cleaning and cleaning out to do to be able to list the house in a few weeks.

Malibu fact of the day:
* In 2007, Malibu High School was ranked one of the top 100 schools in the country in U.S. News & World Report.

What I'll miss about Ocean Springs today:
* Getting a donut at the Tato-Nut Shop.

What I'm thinking today:
* Today I'm thinking about this 2,000+ mile drive we're going to make. In August. When gas will cost like a gazillion dollars. And it will be a gazillion degrees outside.

2008-03-16T21:27:00.000-05:00

Hillary (aka Dian Fossey) With Her Connections Teacher After the Time Machine

TEN QUESTIONS:

1. Did I help make life better for anyone this week?
I’d like to think I did for the Whitman family when I conducted the memorial service honoring Mr. Lyle’s life this past Wednesday. The family seemed to be pleased. I honestly can’t say I’ll miss delivering eulogies, but in a strange way, the act itself feels like the highest honor.

2. Did I reach across lines that divide and meet someone new this week?
I met Kevin from New Jersey Thursday afternoon. I went to the offices of Habitat for Humanity of the Mississippi Gulf Coast for a Governance Committee meeting, and on the way out I commented on Kevin’s Saturn car (since I was driving one, too, a couple of parking places over). When I got into mine to drive home, Kevin came over and introduced himself. He is here to work with our affiliate, primarily to help pull off the massive Jimmy & Rosalyn Carter Work Project in May. As I’ve said before, Habitat for Humanity has introduced me to the most interesting people – people like Kevin.

3. Did I learn anything worthwhile this week?
Jody and I watched part of an interesting television show. It was one of those “Primetime” news specials called, “What Would You Do?” The part I watched was cool: they told people the story of the Good Samaritan before sending them on a walk across a park to do what they thought was a television interview; however, they stationed an actor crying on the side of the sidewalk and secretly filmed how people would react. It turns out that one of the biggest factors in whether people would stop or not was “time.” If they felt rushed, they wouldn’t stop. If they weren’t rushed, they would stop. Consistently. So I learned something important: acting like Jesus requires me to slow down.

4. Did I spend time with close family and friends this week?
We got to see our good friends, Beverly and Emily, this weekend. They were in from San Antonio on Spring Break, and we enjoyed a beach bonfire with them Saturday night, and worship services today.

5. Did I take the time to notice nature this week?
Definitely. The sunset at Front Beach Saturday night was awesome. Then, when I was driving to work Sunday morning, the sunrise burst into my rearview mirror and blew me away. I just happened to be listening to an old worship song performed by artists from Third Day and Caedmon’s Call called “God of Wonders,” which was absolutely perfect. Absolutely perfect.

6. Did I have fun this week?
I had a blast at Hillary’s school program Monday (the Time Machine). Her Connections class has been researching famous Americans for a long time now, and Monday, they put on a killer show at the Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Arts Center. They are unbelievably talented, and the whole program was first class – funny, informative, and entertaining. Erica was in town and sat with me, and Jody got to catch the biggest part of it on her lunch break.

7. Did I do my best at my job this week?
I had a really good week. I finally taught a decent Wednesday night class, and then I felt like my morning sermon today was much better than the past few weeks. Maybe I can go two for two this “holy” week.

8. Did I engage in a discussion of things that matter this week?
I spoke with a school counselor Monday about my CASA kids. It was an important discussion, but it’s depressing to learn that people misunderstand what you’re trying to do. Not the counselor, but others who talk to her. Welcome to life, huh?

9. Did I read or hear or see a good story this week?
Several - once again, wrapped up in Anne Lamott’s “Grace (Eventually).” I’m reading it as a devotional book – one chapter a day – and I’m enjoying it as much as I expected.

10. Did I feed my soul with music this week?
So I run across an old Seal CD when I’m cleaning stuff out this week, and listen to what he wrote in the jacket:

“One of the most popular questions people seem to ask is, ‘Why don’t you print
your lyrics on the album?’ Well, the answer to that is that quite often, my
songs mean one thing to me and another to the listener. But that’s OK because I
think it’s the general vibe of what I’m saying that is important and not the
exact literal translation. How many times have you fallen in love with a lyric
that you thought went, ‘Show me a day with Hilda Ogden and I’ll despair,’ only
to find that it went, ‘Show me a way to solve your problems and I’ll be there.’
I guess what I’m saying is that the song is always larger in the listeners mind
because with it they attach imagery which is relative to their own personal
experience. So it is your perception of what I’m saying rather than what I
actually say that is the key.”

I get it. And I perceive that his “Prayer For The Dying” speaks to my feeble attempts to care for the downtrodden in my life.

2008-03-09T15:10:00.000-05:00

Me with my twenty-one year old daughter!

TEN QUESTIONS:

1. Did I help make life better for anyone this week?
I sure hope so. I had a court case this week in my role as a CASA, and it wasn’t fun. My job is to speak up on behalf of the children, and sometimes you have to say things that are hurtful to others to accomplish that objective. That’s what it felt like this past Wednesday.

2. Did I reach across lines that divide and meet someone new this week?
I met Dorothy in Biloxi. I am convinced that nursing homes are home to many of our modern-day lepers. Ushered out of sight and out of mind by our society, many of the human beings stored there are destined to live life alone, and the tragic sounds one might hear in the hallways are our version of yelling Unclean! I am equally convinced that one of our most subversive acts is to visit a nursing home, not for friends and family, but to minister to the least of these – which is why I try to go to a Biloxi nursing home every other week for a short visit. My normal routine is to talk to Miss Katie who is consistently staring at the lobby door when it opens, say a prayer with Mr. Flowers if I bump into him along the way, and then hang out with my buddy, Hezekiah. On occasion, I bump into my friend, Margie, who works there as an angel of mercy. This week, however, I realized that I’m still a jerk. I still avoid many of the residents – I get in, and I get out, often as fast as I can. This week, I stopped to meet Dorothy. Dorothy usually sits in the lobby, though I’ve never stopped to meet her before. She sits in her wheelchair in her sweat suit and house shoes, not bothering anyone. Occasionally, she tries to talk to someone, but people like me usually smile and walk on by. On Monday, I chose not to walk on by. Dorothy doesn’t communicate well, but I got that she wasn’t feeling good. I complimented her on her colorful Mardi Gras beads. She tried to say a few more things that I couldn’t understand, and then she turned shy. I told her I would check on her next time, and I will. I won’t pass her by again. I won’t allow myself to miss that blessing.

3. Did I learn anything worthwhile this week?
I learned that resurrection is a reality, all wrapped up in the beautiful Jade Baker. My family went to our friend Mallonee’s wedding yesterday. It was beautiful, but my favorite part of the entire event was getting a hug from Jade. You see, Jade was in a horrible accident years ago now, just after she graduated from high school. I was called to the hospital as soon as the crowd began to form in the ICU waiting room to pray with the family and friends. I went to the hospital every day to pray with Jade’s family, and it was doubtful that she would survive. But she survived. After a lengthy hospital stay, her family relocated to Cincinnati where a good rehab hospital and her dad’s new job made a perfect match. I haven’t seen Jade since then, but yesterday, I watched her walk down the aisle as one of Mallonee’s bridesmaids. Better, at the reception, I got a big hug. She claimed that she remembered me, and though her body reacts a little differently than it did years ago, she still has the same beautiful smile. And when she told me in her halting voice, “I bet you prayed for me,” I thought my heart would just explode everywhere.

4. Did I spend time with close family and friends this week?
Erica came to town for her Spring Break, which just happened to coincide with her 21st birthday. She and I ate together at the Hard Rock Café in her honor, and then our whole family attended the wedding on Saturday. There, we got to see David, Debra, and Harrison Carter, and we enjoyed seeing them so much. Harrison is now the age I was when I married Jody, which means I must be really old now.

5. Did I take the time to notice nature this week?
A major storm woke me at 2am Friday morning. Instead of just going back to sleep (as is my tradition), I decided to lay awake and listen to the sounds. I heard it whistle like a train, then rev up like a motorcycle, and before long I couldn’t help but begin to worry. Katrina-memories I guess. Maybe I shouldn’t have noticed nature and just went back to sleep.

6. Did I have fun this week?
I discovered Google Earth this week, and enjoyed my trip to Malibu. We found where we will live, and we found where Hillary will go to school. She is totally pumped that she will be going to a school with a huge outdoor pool. And we noticed that we’ll be living close to Cher. That’s cool.

7. Did I do my best at my job this week?
I did my best. I did a pretty good job teaching on prayer in ladies class, and a better job on my Wednesday class on 1st Corinthians this week. My sermon and class today weren’t earth-shattering, but passable I guess. I started cleaning out my office this week, and I did a good job with that! It isn’t easy for me to throw away memories, but I’ve sent several large garbage bags full of memories to the dumpster so far…

8. Did I engage in a discussion of things that matter this week?
Very much so, with a VERY good friend going through a completely difficult time.

9. Did I read or hear or see a good story this week?
Oh yes. I began reading “Grace…Eventually” by Anne Lamott. She is an amazing writer. Her essay “Dance Class” is my favorite so far. She and her friend, Neshama, went to be volunteer helpers at a special-ed dance class taught by their mutual friend, Karen. The way she ended her story took my breath away. She wrote, “When Karen and I were hiking a few days later, she told me that after the class, one of the dancers had exclaimed, ‘I liked those old ladies! They were helpers, and they danced.’ These are the words I want on my gravestone: that I was a helper, and that I danced.”

10. Did I feed my soul with music this week?
Crank-it-up moment of the week: Paradise City by Guns ‘n Roses. There is hardly a better crank-it-up song in existence.

My new friend, Jamey, introduced me to some great lyrics from a musician named Todd Agnew. I found the song on YouTube and listened to it – what a powerful message. Here are the haunting lyrics from My Jesus:

Which Jesus do you follow?
Which Jesus do you serve?
If Ephesians says to imitate Christ
Then why do you look so much like the world?

Cause my Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the arrogant
So which one do you want to be?

Blessed are the poor in spirit
Or do we pray to be blessed with the wealth of this land
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness
Or do we ache for another taste of this world of shifting sand

Cause my Jesus bled and died for my sins
He spent His time with theives and sluts and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the rich
So which one do you want to be?

Who is this that
You follow
This picture of the American dream
If Jesus was here would you walk right on by on
the other side or fall down and worship at His holy feet

Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a clear complexion
Is how you see Him as He dies for Your sins
But the Word says He was battered and scarred
Or did you miss that part
Sometimes I doubt we'd recognize Him

Cause my Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and the least of these
He loved the poor and accosted the comfortable
So which one do you want to be?

Cause my Jesus would never be accepted in my church
The blood and dirt on His feet might stain the carpet
But He reaches for the hurting and despises the proud
I think He'd prefer Beale St. to the stained glass crowd
And I know that He can hear me in I cry out loud

I want to be like my Jesus
Not a poster child for American prosperity,but like my Jesus
You see I'm tired of living for success and popularity
I want to be like my Jesus but I'm not sure what that
means to be like you Jesus
Cause You said to live like You, love like You
but then You died for me

Can I be like You Jesus?
I want to be like my Jesus

2008-03-02T16:04:00.002-06:00

Pelican at Inner Harbor Park in Ocean Springs, Mississippi

TEN QUESTIONS:

1. Did I help make life better for anyone this week?
I’ve been privy to two death watches this week, and I hope I’ve been helpful to those poor family members in so much pain. I have learned over my years as a preacher that my profession is useful at such times, not because of any words of wisdom we provide, or any scriptural analysis we might share, but because oddly enough, we represent God in the room. Right or wrong, this is what we do.

2. Did I reach across lines that divide and meet someone new this week?
It is so easy for me to avoid people. I’m a friendly sort of guy – I’m the guy that initiates conversations in elevators and waiting rooms, but if I can avoid people, I do it every time. But I want to stop. On my way out of Inner Harbor Park, I saw two paths. On one side I saw beneath the trees the red Crocs of an old woman walking her dog. The other path was people-free. Everything in me wanted the people-free path. On Friday, I chose the path with the old lady. It was a windy day, and she had on a blue hooded sweatshirt. I chose her way, caught her eye, and said Hello. I told her the pelicans were impressive today. She asked me if they were diving, and I said Yes. She said, Oh, I always forget my camera on days when they’re diving. I had mine in tow and said I had tried my best to catch them. That was it. We went on our way. But I think I did something good. I chose the people way. Sure, the good preacher isn’t happy because I didn’t set up a Bible study, and the good businessman isn’t happy because I didn’t sell her anything. But I’m happy. I chose a path that led me to exchange words and smiles with an old lady walking her dog, and that is the way I know is best.

Oh, and I went to a bar this week. On purpose. It is hard around these parts to garner a reputation as a bar. Wal-Mart serves alcohol, as does every convenience store - and every food establishment above the level of Ronald McDonald. When Government Street Grocery opened up, it had a nice plate lunch special, and our group of preachers went there one day. Before long, however, it became known as a bar. Nominated for best bar on the Gulf Coast, actually. So since I’m a preacher I hadn’t been back to eat there – since preachers don’t go to bars. I went on Friday for lunch anyway. Since I was alone, I didn’t choose a table. I went to THE bar for lunch. The waitress wasn’t overly friendly, so I didn’t talk much, and I sat by myself for much of my meal. Eventually, two guys came in for a Corona, and two more guys came in for a Bud Light, and then four other folks who ordered unsweet tea. I sat in the middle of them all with my ice water and eating a dang good muffuletta . Once again, I didn’t change the world or anything, but I did go somewhere I wouldn’t have gone naturally, and I sat in the middle of people. Trying to ignore the lines drawn for me.

3. Did I learn anything worthwhile this week?
* Well, I learned that the mitral valve of my heart has a small leak (which is no reason to call a plumber just yet). Other than that, my heart is strong.

* I learned that a quarter of a muffeletta at the Government Street Grocery will fill up a grown man with a slightly leaky mitral valve.

* I learned at the post office that the rims on my Saturn Ion either look like or otherwise have something to do with the movie Spiderman 2. Some cool dude took a picture of one on his cell phone and actually shook my hand. Can anyone help me out with this one?!?

* And I learned (YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) that Hillary received the all-clear from the surgeon!!!

4. Did I spend time with close family and friends this week?
Jody & Hillary & I enjoyed hosting the 5th graders prayer group last Sunday night. Jody fixed burgers and ice cream sundaes for the kids, and after we prayed together, we played a couple of games of Clue. When all the kids were leaving, the Martin family dropped by to say “hi” and stayed for awhile. Alia and Jody sneaked back to talk on their own, and Steve, Hillary, and I watched part of the Oscars together.

Diann Payne is an awesome person, and possibly a better friend. After Hillary’s hospital stay where she had to go without real food for so long, Diann sent her a $50 gift certificate to the Outback Steakhouse as a gift. Hillary LOVES her some steak! Hillary, Jody, and I went to Outback in D’Iberville Thursday night and spent a couple of hours eating great food, laughing, and engaging in great conversation around three slabs of meat, tasty side dishes, and an ice cream sundae. It sure beat gathering around chicken broth in the hospital.

I had a great time driving to Hattiesburg with my good friend, Tandy Shaw, to watch Southern Miss play Memphis in basketball Saturday. It was a great game, though the heavily favored Memphis Tigers pulled away in the end, but it was even more fun getting to see Erica for a few minutes and getting to swap lots of stories with Tandy all day long.

5. Did I take the time to notice nature this week?
I went to Inner Harbor Park in Ocean Springs and chased pelicans around with my camera on Friday. It was a blue-sky day, windy, with a temperature of sixty-five degrees. Malibu Weather, I thought. Inner Harbor in Ocean Springs will always be one of my favorite places in the world, however. The boats swayed playfully on their leashes in the brisk wind. There was little sound: the occasional small plane flying overhead, the plock-plock of a friendly tennis game in the background, and the shriek squawking of the seagulls. I love watching the waterfowl. I still don’t know how to tell an egret from a heron, or vice-versa, but I love to watch them anyway. My favorites are the pelicans. I love to watch them soar low over the water, their wide wing spans resembling the airplanes that fly overhead. They are majestic in the air, soaring. Their heads do not bob up and down in flight, but remain steady like a queen on parade. I could have stayed and watched them all day long.

6. Did I have fun this week?
I had a blast playing with Natalie at The Studio Tuesday night while Hillary waited to have all her dance pictures taken. For some reason, this gorgeous preschooler decided I would be her friend that night, and she crawled up on my lap with her stuffed animal and purse and began to play. We played for a good hour. And it was a good hour.

7. Did I do my best at my job this week?
Well, yeah, I guess. I did a sucky job teaching class Wednesday night on 1st Corinthians chapter eight. After class was over, I figured out the approach I should have taken: peer pressure. Too late now, but what do you do? And my Sunday morning sermon was alright, but nothing special. Always next week, right?

8. Did I engage in a discussion of things that matter this week?
I had a good talk with Christopher Gates Tuesday night. Christopher is cool. He was in show business for many years, most of them as a Houdini-style magician. Along the way he fell in love with Jesus, and since I’m a preacher we always have something to talk about. He asked about my law school search, and I told him all about Pepperdine. From show business, he knows all about that area (in a Freudian slip, he referred to Los Angeles as “Hell-A.”) But he thinks it is super cool how the stars have aligned for us in our move. In the middle of our conversation, he broke out in prayer. He does things like that from time to time.

And I had some great talks this (Sunday) morning and afternoon with new friends, Jamey and Karen Landry. It is no fair that I'm getting new friends that I'll have to leave this summer, too!

9. Did I read or hear or see a good story this week?
I read Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis, which is a pretty amazing story. What a creative way to teach that humanity has a penchant for putting ourselves in the place of God, and how learning to get out of God’s seat is sometimes a long learning process.

10. Did I feed my soul with music this week?
Crank-it-up moment of the week: Thunderstruck by AC/DC (on the drive to the cardiologist, which is probably not the best place to be listening to Thunderstruck).

I’m weak on my protest music, but I discovered Jackson Browne’s “The Rebel Jesus” as I read Brian McLaren’s book. Here are the penetrating lyrics; made better only by adding the gift of music (you can find a good version of this on YouTube):

All the streets are filled with laughter and light
And the music of the season
And the merchants windows are all bright
With the faces of the children
And the families hurrying to their homes
As the sky darkens and freezes
They’ll be gathering around the hearths and tales
Giving thanks for all gods graces
And the birth of the rebel Jesus

Well they call him by the prince of peace
And they call him by the savior
And they pray to him upon the seas
And in every bold endeavor
As they fill his churches with their pride and gold
And their faith in him increases
But they’ve turned the nature that I worshipped in
From a temple to a robbers den
In the words of the rebel Jesus

We guard our world with locks and guns
And we guard our fine possessions
And once a year when Christmas comes
We give to our relations
And perhaps we give a little to the poor
If the generosity should seize us
But if any one of us should interfere
In the business of why they are poor
They get the same as the rebel Jesus

But please forgive me if I seem
To take the tone of judgment
For I’ve no wish to come between
This day and your enjoyment
In this life of hardship and of earthly toil
We have need for anything that frees us
So I bid you pleasure
And I bid you cheer
From a heathen and a pagan
On the side of the rebel Jesus.

2008-02-24T13:43:00.002-06:00

My fellow HFHMGC board member, Cindy, and I, followed a peacock around the courtyard of the Magnolia Plantation Hotel in Gulfport after our board retreat in search of a good picture. This was the best I could get.

TEN QUESTIONS:

1. Did I help make life better for anyone this week?

I hope so. The specific instance that sticks out in my mind was the second hospital visit I made to Ernie. Ernie is an old man with some amazing life experiences, but I think preachers are special to him. After I prayed for him on Tuesday afternoon, he seemed speechless, something neither he nor I are very often. I’m not sure what it was, but I think I touched something deep inside. Maybe he saw himself in me a long time ago, or maybe he heard something he needed to hear in the wintering of his life. Whatever it was, it seemed to make him happy. And if I could do that for an aging man lying alone in a hospital bed every week, then I’d be happy, too.

2. Did I reach across lines that divide and meet someone new this week?
I met an impressive class full of eighth graders and an even more impressive teacher in Mr. Philippoff at St. Martin Middle School Thursday morning. For several years now, I’ve been giving Mississippi Scholars presentations to eighth graders around this time of year. Mississippi Scholars is a program that brings community leaders into the classroom to impress upon eighth graders the importance of taking challenging courses in high school and pursuing higher education. This was the first time I’ve made a presentation in St. Martin, and this class was the most fun I’ve ever had. I give all the credit for that to a most impressive young teacher, the kind I’d wish for my own kids. I’d not only like to meet a Mr. Philippoff every week; I’d like to be in his eighth grade class.

And I met Gary on Saturday. We are both members of the board of directors for Habitat for Humanity of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and we had a board retreat at the Magnolia Plantation Hotel in Gulfport. Gary has been on this particular board longer than me, but because of his teaching schedule at William Carey College he can’t make our monthly Thursday night board meetings. Gary is a former Baptist pastor, and as sad as it is to say, there is a definite line drawn historically between Church of Christ folks and Baptist folks. It was good to reach across that line once again this week. I’ve always been able to depend on Habitat for Humanity to help break down those particular barriers.

3. Did I learn anything worthwhile this week?
I learned an awful lot about the human body this week, mostly because I’ve felt like mine is falling apart. On Tuesday night, my left ear and jaw went numb, and once I added that to the chest pains I’d been having for several days, I became extra nervous. I called my friend/nurse practitioner, Gina, and she and I agreed that a trip to the emergency room was a smart move. (I also learned that Gina is awesome – that she is a minister of God, whether she realizes it or not.) At the emergency room, the EKG looked good (the doctor told me he wanted an EKG like mine), and the chest x-ray revealed nothing wrong. They gave me a horribly tasty green drink called a “GI cocktail,” which didn’t help my pain, and they sent me home about 1am. On Thursday, I went to the cardiologist in Biloxi. They helped me feel better in one way by confirming that my pain doesn’t seem to be heart-related. Still, we have lots of tests scheduled for Monday morning just to be sure. I think what I learned the most was that I am getting older, and my own body has been the teacher.

4. Did I spend time with close family and friends this week?
I did, but not as much as I would have liked. The only time I think the three folks who live at our house sat down together all week was watching “Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann” on Monday night. We laughed together watching the Dancecenter clips with Kenny Maine, who is hilarious. And Erica came in on Thursday evening so she could go with Jody and the ladies from church to a ladies retreat in Florida, so it was good to see her for a little while. But we didn’t spend nearly enough time together as a family. I’m really hoping our move next year will allow us to refocus our family times.

I did have some good talks with friends this week:
* Jason Webb called Tuesday afternoon, and his “when the stars align, follow the stars” advice was well-timed. Jason is one of my soul friends, something I cannot describe in words. He is in my DeJon category, which is an awfully good category to me.
* I enjoyed a great debate with my friend, Dave Fain, and Steve & Alia Martin after Bible class Wednesday night. About “church” in general. My kinds of thinkers.
* After the ladies left for Florida on Friday, my friends Tom and Gene ended up in my office for an hour or so shooting the bull about all sorts of things. Tom and Gene are the sort of people I’d choose to sit around with to shoot the bull anytime. They are also the sort of people I’d want with me when the chips are down.

5. Did I take the time to notice nature this week?
I decided to watch it rain early Friday afternoon. It was a gloomy, gray sky sort of day, but I thought I would return to the last place I intentionally watched nature (the front awning of the church building during Katrina) and watch it rain. It was a gentle shower, silent but for the patter falling off the roof and the sloshing of the busy traffic on Washington Avenue. I sat and felt the cool, ocean breeze and watched the cars race back and forth, back and forth. I saw myself drive by repeatedly, especially in the accelerating cars. I have to hurry, hurry, hurry! But on Friday, I stopped and sat in a folding chair to watch it rain. The clock dragged. It was wondrous. I decided to walk out into the steady rain and feel it on my skin. I never do this, nor do many others I think. I mean, we lounge in the shower for an hour, and we splash around in swimming pools, but we race through the rain covering our heads like its poison. But it’s not. The cold rain felt good on my skin. I’m glad I took the time to notice since I never ever do.

6. Did I have fun this week?
I saw the hilarious YouTube video of Philadelphia Phillies’ pitcher Brett Myers pulling off an elaborate practical joke on teammate, Kyle Kendrick, making him believe he had been traded to Japan and had to leave the next morning. Go search for it if you haven’t seen it! Laughter is good for the soul.

7. Did I do my best at my job this week?
I have done my best, but it has been difficult in a couple of ways: (1) still worrying about Hillary’s health as well as my own has made focusing hard, and (2) the call of law school and my concern about submitting a housing contract at Pepperdine on Friday has been distracting. But I have done my work conscientiously. (My second problem will continue it seems: on Friday, it suddenly became clear that we will be moving to Malibu, California this August. Which opens up a whole can full of distractions. Good distractions in my book!)

I preached a somewhat controversial sermon this morning titled “A Place For Everyone” from Matthew 21: 12-17. It was mostly controversial because I was specific, and I had several people “thank me” afterwards for things I said. No one accosted me, but I doubt everyone was thankful for my message. If it needed to be said, however, I’m glad I said it.

8. Did I engage in a discussion of things that matter this week?
I had a lengthy discussion with my CASA director, Frances Allsup, about my case Wednesday morning. I have a permanency review hearing coming up very soon, and to think that what I have to say in court will help determine the trajectory of life for five children is humbling. Some things matter without bringing a smile, or even a lick of peace.

Our Habitat for Humanity board retreat was chock full of important things to discuss, mostly because our brilliant CEO engaged us in a “mission, vision, values” conversation. Excellent stuff.

9. Did I read or hear or see a good story this week?
I read unbelievable stories this week, all wrapped up in a book called Teacher Man by Frank McCourt. I am so sad that I am finished with the autobiographical trilogy (Angela’s Ashes, ‘Tis, and Teacher Man). I wish there were more books to read, but Teacher Man would tell me it is time to write my own. I would highly recommend McCourt – an unbelievable writer and story-teller, and from his last book I can tell, an unforgettable teacher, too. Kind of like Mr. Philippoff.

10. Did I feed my soul with music this week?
Crank-it-up moment of the week: Where the Streets Have No Name by U2 (Wednesday morning on the drive to the Youth Court in Pascagoula)

I bought my 10-year-old the Daughtry CD for Valentine’s Day, and we listened to it together on the drive to and from ballet class Tuesday night. If I had a style of music, Daughtry would fit into it somewhere – the phrase “rock anthem” comes to mind for some reason. But the music that fed my soul this week came from the backseat as Hillary belted out the perfect lyrics to “Over You.” The music is quite a step up from Hannah Montana, and it reminded me that my little girl is growing up. I heard a man say the other day, “Kids are so cute, too bad they have to turn into teenagers.” I’m a few days late, but my response to that familiar line is Bullcrap. That’s my nice response. Turn into a teenager, my little girl. Show me the meaning of the word angst. Find music I can’t understand, think thoughts I cannot follow, and dream dreams I’ve never even imagined. You even have permission to hate me from time to time as you sort out the new and passionate feelings that are not far away. Find your song, and sing it loud. And I will be proud of your song. Not that you will need it, but you have my full permission to grow up.

2008-02-19T15:52:00.000-06:00

I hit the big time today. Bobby Ross, Jr., managing editor of the Christian Chronicle, mentioned my blog as one of three blogs he enjoys reading (check it out HERE). Though the list was in no particular order, I took great pride in noticing that my name was mentioned above John Dobbs (who is the reigning king of the blog world).

The problem is that all these people will check out my blog now, and I really haven’t been writing much recently.

This will be no surprise to those who know me best, but I have a new plan.

In our Blog Learning Time sessions (BLT), Professor John Dobbs instructed his apprentices to blog every single day. But since I have now vaulted past him on the Ross list, I will ignore his advice and blaze a trail all my own.

Here is my new plan: I am going to post a really, really good blog entry every weekend, starting this weekend, and hope to carry on a few conversations from it throughout the week. Each weekend, I will publish my favorite picture from the week (or, the only picture I took that week – or, will take a picture of something just beforehand) and answer for myself (and the 1000s and 1000s of readers out there) the following ten questions:

1. Did I help make life better for anyone this week?
2. Did I reach across lines that divide and meet someone new this week?
3. Did I learn anything worthwhile this week?
4. Did I spend time with close family and friends this week?
5. Did I take the time to notice nature this week?
6. Did I have fun this week?
7. Did I do my best at my job this week?
8. Did I engage in a discussion of things that matter this week?
9. Did I read or hear or see a good story this week?
10. Did I feed my soul with music this week?

This is my plan. Criticize at will.

By the way…

* On the Hillary front, she is still recovering nicely from her ruptured appendix. Thanks for the prayers, and keep ‘em up please!
* On the Law School front, I’m still waiting to see if we can get into married/family housing at Pepperdine. If so, that’s where we’re headed. If not, well, the jury is still out (heh – like the lawyer reference!)

2008-02-13T16:34:00.000-06:00

Here is the picture I've been dreaming about for a week now: Hillary, in her own bed, this afternoon.

After a luxurious nine-day, eight-night stay in the hospital, my little girl was dismissed today. Please keep up the prayers, however. Her white blood cell count still isn't where it's supposed to be, and she still has fluid in her abdomen, but the surgeon believes she is getting better. He sent her home with oral antibiotics for a week, but he wanted us to be clear that she could start all over again in a couple of weeks. He made a judgment call, and in his judgment, she will just get better. We'll have to wait and see, but it is good to do the waiting and seeing at home.

It is so good to be home.

2008-02-06T10:29:00.000-06:00

Just a quickie.

My Hillary (age 10) had emergency surgery last night to remove her rupturing appendix. She was amazing. My wife and I were so-so.

She'll be in the hospital for several days, so don't expect much blogging from me. Only home now to take a shower and send out word via the internet.

She's doing well overall right now, with the exception of a fever and the obvious soreness.

2008-02-04T10:22:00.000-06:00

Fantastic Super Bowl last night!

The downside was that my little girl was sick all day yesterday, throwing up all day and all night, and now my wife is exhausted from caring from her, and on top of all that, now I'm not feeling so hot either.

But the Super Bowl was great!

Yesterday was our day in Ocean Springs to host the area-wide youth devotional, and our youth minister (Trent) decided to make it a big one, complete with Super Bowl and all. In the afternoon festivities, I was asked to be one of four people to take a room and have ten minutes with four different groups of kids. Trent wanted each of us to do something that would make a lasting impression on the teens.

The theme of the day was "Grace Like Rain," so I ended up choosing the Parable of the Prodigal Son for my ten-minute topic. I spent the bulk of my time reading a modern-day version of the story by Philip Yancey, involving a runaway teen girl in Michigan. She lives the high life for a full year in a penthouse as a high-price call girl, but once she gets sick, she ends up homeless in downtown Detroit. Eventually, the girl calls home and leaves a message on her parents' answering machine: she's coming through by bus, and if her parents wanted to, they could meet her at the bus station at midnight. But she wasn't sure they would even come. When the bus arrives, she is blown away to see forty family members with goofy hats, noisemakers, and a Welcome Home banner. "No time for apologies," her dad says, "you'll be late for the party."

I was amazed at how captivated each of the four groups were by the story. Usually, only about one person out of a group of eight to ten noticed its relation to the Parable of the Prodigal Son, and only a couple in each group had even heard that parable at all.

I'm proud to say that they have now. And at least once, they have heard that no matter how bad you screw up, God will take you back and throw a party.

And they've been told, too, that not all churches will treat you like that. If not, just pray for them. And remember, they aren't acting like God acts.

At the end of each group, I got a volunteer to go out in the hall. Then, I distributed the party hats and the noisemakers. And yesterday, one person in each of the four groups got the chance to open the door and taste just the tiniest flavor of how God welcomes his children home.

I hope they will always remember. And I hope I do, too.

2008-02-02T20:14:00.000-06:00

For those of you scoring at home...

After MUCH consideration, we have narrowed our list of potential law schools to two: Pepperdine University, and the University of Florida (Gainesville).

In that order.

Going to Pepperdine is completely contingent on securing a spot in married/family housing on campus, something we won't know about for sure for a few weeks.

We are still reeling from these choices. We had completely ruled Pepperdine out as an option - until I received the admissions packet that included a significant scholarship this past week.

Our major decision factors in regard to Pepperdine were:
(1) It is ranked #1 in the country in dispute resolution, the field I am most interested in.
(2) The scholarship will (with great irony) make Pepperdine just about our cheapest option
(3) The idea of living (all of us), going to school (me), going to church (all of us) and working (Jody) on campus in a safe environment is pretty amazing

But if the housing doesn't work out, it will nullify #2 and #3 above and rule out Pepperdine in favor of the University of Florida.

Pretty weird feeling: Two locations, 2,454 miles apart. We'll move to one of these places in six months.

2008-01-30T16:06:00.000-06:00

It has been a little while since I've given a full update on my law school selection process. So you won't mind waiting a little while longer, right?

We have heard back from five schools now: Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida, and Pepperdine. We are still waiting to hear from three: Virginia, St. Louis, and Missouri.

I have a pretty good idea what the three remaining will say now (based on the first five), so with that in mind, and believe it or not, things are finally beginning to come into focus. We won't know for sure where we'll be going for another month or so, but give us just a few days to sleep on things, and I think we'll be comfortable telling everyone what we're shooting for...

Thanks for caring.

2008-01-29T15:27:00.000-06:00

Today was my daughter's school spelling bee. Hillary was a late addition to the 30 spelling competitors in this school of about 400 kids. There were two kids from each of the fifteen classes, and though Hillary came in 4th in her class competition, two students ahead of her did not want to compete. She did.

When I arrived, Hillary and Alexa were headed toward the competition, and I stopped them long enough for the pretty picture above. The students gathered in the library where the competition was broadcast over a school-wide television system for everyone in the school to see. All of the classes watched in their homerooms, while the parents were herded in the cafeteria, which is as safe a place to put thirty sets of nervous parents as any.

By luck of the draw, Alexa and Hillary went first. They looked a little nervous, but I WAS A LOT NERVOUS!!!!. They did good, and after the first two rounds, the field had been cut in half. In Round 3, it was cut in half again, including my favorite speller, Hillary.

Okay, you've watched "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" right? So let's play along.

Spell the following word: alot.

(Play the Jeopardy music.)
(Take your time.)
(No hurry.)

How did you spell it?

WRONG!!! It's actually spelled "allot," but Hillary spelled it with just one "l."

She was fine with it. I thought she spelled it close enough, but they're really cracking down on spelling bee rules now-a-days, so they made her go back to her class after Round 3.

I walked her back to her room, gave her a big hug, enjoyed her beautiful smile, and when she opened the door to go in her class cheered for her.

Too cool.

I couldn't wait to pick Hillary up this afternoon. She said her buddy, Alexa, came in 5th place - going out in the 7th round. She said the class cheered extra loud for Alexa when she came back, led by her friend, Hillary.

It has been a good day so far. And one thing I know: I love my little girl ALOT!

2008-01-27T20:11:00.000-06:00

Been busy, busy, busy, busy, busy...

* My great friend, David Watson, closed down his dental practice and came to Ocean Springs just to spend a couple of days with us, and we had a GREAT time with him. He arrived Thursday evening, and we spent all day Friday and all day Saturday together. He worshipped with us this morning before heading home. He's Dr. Watson to lots of folks, but Big Dave to me. We have been friends for just about as long as I can remember. He was the best man in my wedding, and my Cardinal/Cowboy/Razorback buddy. He came to Ocean Springs specifically to help me with my Ocean Springs photo-project book, and let me tell you - HE'S A GENIUS!!! We're only a little over halfway done now after two days of work (you can see us hard at work last night in the picture above), but we'll be able to do the rest via internet exchanges. It will be too cool, but cost prohibitive for people to buy. But it will be a special treasure for me and my family as we remember Ocean Springs - and an even greater treasure because it was created with a wonderful friend.

* On the law school update front, I received an acceptance letter from the University of Florida yesterday!!! Four acceptance letters so far (Arkansas/Mississippi/Tennessee/Florida), and four to wait on (Pepperdine/Virginia/Missouri/St. Louis).

* This afternoon was really enjoyable. I had the chance to go to Pascagoula and attend a farewell reception for the Dobbs family. John Dobbs has been a special friend of mine here on the Gulf Coast, and he will continue to be forever and ever - mostly because John is the undefeated king of the internet. If you haven't run across John Dobbs on the worldwide web, you just haven't been paying attention! John will begin work next weekend as the pulpit minister for the Forsythe congregation in Monroe, Louisiana. He will be GREATLY missed on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He has been the preacher at the Central Church of Christ in Pascagoula for the past sixteen years.

Okay, gotta jet everyone. The weekend has been great, but busy, and I've got lots of catching up to do still...

2008-01-23T16:44:00.000-06:00

Jon Coleman

Jon was built to be a fullback, or a wrestler. Maybe even a boxer, but not a basketball player. By basketball standards, he was short. By any standards, he was thick and strong.

I was 21 years old, fresh out of the University of Arkansas, and too young to be coaching high school basketball, but there I was in August of 1992, holding my first practices, and checking out my team. Jon was 17 years old, one of four seniors I would eventually start that year, alongside his classmates, Rusty, Daniel, Jeremy, and a talented junior named Rob.

Jon had the odd mixture of playfulness and intensity that made him a team favorite - and a scourge to the opposition. If there was ever a star opponent that needed to be bothered endlessly – and there often was – I would sic Jon Coleman on him. Jon relished those opportunities.

If our school was big enough for a football team, or in those parts of the country where wrestling is the dominant sport, he would have been a star. We just offered basketball and track, so Jon made his way to the starting five through hard work and determination, and found a place in track throwing the shotput and running relays.

Jon graduated high school and moved on to my alma mater, the University of Arkansas. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree, and then law school to follow in the footsteps of his father. He returned to Jonesboro to practice, and though I lost touch with him completely, I can imagine he became one heck of a lawyer. I can picture his bulldog intensity, along with his mischievous grin, endearing himself to clients, and frustrating the stew out his adversaries.

I called my mom yesterday, and she told me the news. Jon died Sunday morning at his home of natural causes. He was 32 years old.

In less than an hour, visitation will begin at Emerson Funeral Home in Jonesboro, Arkansas. I am five-hundred miles away, but my heart is there with the mourners. Tomorrow morning, Jimmy Adcox will deliver a tender eulogy I’m sure, but I will be at work in Ocean Springs. I have to attempt my bit of dealing with the news by typing out words on a keyboard tonight.

Jon’s father preceded him in death, so the burden lies heavily on his mother, Jan, and his younger brother, Kyle. I cannot imagine how they feel tonight. I left my message on the guestbook at the funeral home, and already there are seven pages filled with condolences. I hope those help in some small way.

Of the fourteen or fifteen guys I handed Falcon basketball uniforms back in 1992, two of them are gone now: Jarrod left us at 19, and now Jon at 32. Death is sobering, and as the years pass, it grows more sobering still. We posed for a team picture back then, and two of those faces have faded away now. Over time, one at a time, we’ll all have our turn.

You don’t know what you have in a moment of time. The flash blinds us, the memory is secured, but you just don’t know that this moment will never be replaced. It is an irredeemable treasure.

I shared part of one year with Jon Coleman, and I hadn’t seen him in close to fifteen years, but all of a sudden I miss him tonight.

I hope he knows now, if not before, just how many lives he touched along the way.

2008-01-22T21:06:00.000-06:00

Tom & Laura Tonight

So my friend, Tom, whom some of you may remember from the legendary building of my deck, calls me yesterday and invites me out for a cup of coffee at Coffee Fusion. Hillary was out of school for the holiday, so Hillary and I turn it into lunch while Tom enjoys his coffee. After just a little time for casual pleasantries, Tom says he has something to tell me that, although good, may shock me. This is usually where my heart momentarily stops beating (my preacher friends will understand). Then Tom tells me that he wants me to baptize him.

The rest of the lunch conversation was one of the best conversations I've ever had as a preacher. Tom's wife, Laura (who also happens to be my secretary), has been praying for Tom to make this decision for fourteen years now, and over the course of lunch, he told me how piece by piece the wall fell during his time in Ocean Springs.

He told of how past churches seemed to be filled with people who had it all together, and he thought you had to have it all together like that to be baptized. We, on the other hand, are an obvious bunch of losers. (LOL! He didn't say that at all! But it is the truth, and my saying so just provides dramatic effect!)

He told of understanding baptism as the final step in a process, but coming to see it here as the first step instead.

He told of a past preacher who cornered him every week to pressure him about being baptized, and how each time led him further away from making that decision.

He told of how church had just been something he went to in the past, but that our men's group going to baseball games and out to eat wings for fun led him to have real relationships and see people as "people" - not "church folks."

He told of how he struggled with the reality of his job in the military - ultimately training to kill people - and how one of our teachers (Keith) helped him come to terms with his job.

He told of how our elders impacted him by seeing him as someone that behaved like a Christian leader, and how that helped convince him that he really can be part of this Christian group.

It was a wonderful conversation.

I thought it was cool that he said he kind of wanted to wait until summer so he could be the last person I baptized here, but he knew the time was right now. I told him at the rate I go, he very well could be the last person I baptize here anyway. :-)

So Tom emailed several people, specifically those that have helped him come to this decision, and invited them to our church building tonight to share this occasion with him. And I had the honor of baptizing my friend.

What a terrific way to spend an evening.

2008-01-21T15:35:00.000-06:00

Probably the most dramatic sight to see post-Katrina in my town was the wreckage of the Biloxi-Ocean Springs Bridge. Most everyone who came to volunteer ended up standing at the bridge, snapping pictures, trying to capture the unbelievable scene. Today, driving to Biloxi to visit a nursing home, I snapped a picture out my front windshield from close to the spot where many of you out there have stood. It is good to see progress, no?

We shared a great lunch at our house yesterday with Judge Sharon Sigalas, Jackson County CASA Director, Frances Allsup and her family, and fellow CASA volunteer, Dana Mitchell, and her kids. Great food, great conversation, and great people.

Well, I'm two for two in the lunch department. Hillary is out of school for Dr. King's holiday, and we shared a great lunch at Coffee Fusion with my friend, Tom. I suspect I'll tell you all more about it a little later on.

2008-01-19T19:53:00.000-06:00

* Erica called to say it was snowing in Hattiesburg today!!! Here, it was just 37 degrees and rainy...

* Much of today was focused on Hillary and the Science Fair (pictured above). I don't know if her project, "Colder Than Ice," will set the scientific community abuzz, but we found it interesting. Did you know that adding salt to ice water makes the temperature of the water colder? Tell the truth now, you didn't know that either, eh? The best news is that our procrastination did not bite us on the rear end. We researched this project a few weeks ago, then did the whole thing in one day (today). It's due this Wednesday.

* The other focus of today was cleaning house. Not fun, but we did it together, which is the way to go. We have company coming over tomorrow (you knew there must be a reason for house cleaning, right?).

* I checked the mail today, and though I didn't receive any law school notifications, I did receive notification of jury duty! The weird part is that I'm pretty excited about this - I've always wanted jury duty. Of course, I'm sure either (a) the fact that I'm excited about jury duty, or (b) the fact that I'm planning to go to law school next year will get me disqualified somehow. I'll be the only disappointed disqualified juror.

* I read a book today, too. Mitch Albom's "For One More Day." Good book, and easy read (200 pages in a coupla hours), but not as good as either "Tuesdays With Morrie" or "The Five People You Meet in Heaven." According to me, that is...

* Jody, Hillary, and I braved the uncharacteristic Gulf Coast cold weather and went to Applebee's for dinner tonight. Good folks, Jay and Glenda, gave us a gift certificate for Christmas, and we used it tonight (and appreciated it, too!).

2008-01-18T10:35:00.000-06:00

At Least - by Raymond Carver

I want to get up early one more morning,
before sunrise. Before the birds, even.
I want to throw cold water on my face
and be at my work table
when the sky lightens and smoke
begins to rise from the chimneys
of the other houses.
I want to see the waves break
on this rocky beach, not just hear them
break as I did all night in my sleep.
I want to see again the ships
that pass through the Straits from every
seafaring country in the world -
old, dirty freighters just barely moving along,
and the swift new cargo vessels
painted every color under the sun
that cut the water as they pass.
I want to keep an eye out for them.
And for the little boat that plies
the water between the ships
and the pilot station near the lighthouse.
I want to see them take a man off the ship
and put another up on board.
I want to spend the day watching this happen
and reach my own conclusions.
I hate to seem greedy - I have so much
to be thankful for already.
But I want to get up early one more morning, at least.
And go to my place with some coffee and wait.
Just wait, to see what's going to happen.

2008-01-17T16:44:00.000-06:00

The Duck Crossing at the Singing River Hospital

* My daughter called from college this morning just to say Good Morning to me
* I engaged the smartest people I know on the Hungry, Hungry Hippo blog in an important conversation on the meaning of life
* I went to the hospital in Pascagoula to pray with a dying woman and her grieving family
* I ate 4 Krystal burgers and french fries, one of my favorite lunches
* My wife and I unexpectedly met at our house in the early afternoon, and she gave me a kiss
* I talked for 30 minutes to the associate dean at the University of Arkansas law school, and he upped his scholarship offer. More importantly, we had a wonderful conversation.
* I picked up my youngest daughter from school, and we laughed together in the car
* I am about to head to a board meeting for Habitat for Humanity of the Mississippi Gulf Coast

How does one person get hold of such a wonderful day?

2008-01-16T16:22:00.000-06:00

BLOG-SERVATION #1: I spent the afternoon in Youth Court (pictured above) concerning my CASA case. Our director's office is adjacent to the courtroom, so standard procedure for a CASA volunteer is to sit in there and chat with Frances while we wait to see if we're needed. If we're needed, there is a knock on her office wall, and we enter the courtroom. When the knock came and we entered, Judge asked me about my law school application process, and she and the Guardian Ad Litem compared LSAT scores with me. Judge, ever with a clever comeback, remembered the saying, "Those who make A's get to be professors. Those who make B's get to be judges, and those who make C's get to be RICH!" Anyway, court, as always, was interesting, and though I cannot go into any details I can simply say that my legal education continued today by learning this truth: if I think I will go to law school and learn how to sort out the messes in this world, then I'll be sadly mistaken.

BLOG-SERVATION #2: It is a cold, rainy day, which makes me wonder how many people will actually show up for our mid-week class tonight. I'll be teaching 1st Corinthians 5 to the adults, a chapter on the need for disfellowshipping brash sinners from a church, which is always a fun topic for all. One of the thoughts I've had is that I wonder if anyone has ever seen a "disfellowshipping" work. By work, I mean accomplish its supposed purpose of leading someone back to the fold. I haven't, but maybe others have. If not, then maybe we should be honest enough to admit that there's something wrong in our whole approach to the subject.

2008-01-15T15:06:00.000-06:00

An active day today...

* Neighborhood Watch meeting this morning, followed by...

* Ladies Class - finishing the letter from James, deciding to study Prayer next...

* Ballet Class for Hillary in an hour, during which I'll...

* Go do a home visit for my CASA kids...

But I took a picture of my sports wall today. It's only been in existence for two-and-a-half years, but I've been in that office for about nine years. I took a picture of it because I thought, law school may sound exciting, but moving all my stuff sure doesn't.

2008-01-14T16:33:00.000-06:00

Beauvoir's Reconstruction as of Today

JOURNAL BLOG

Nothing terribly exciting today...

* The morning began with iced over car windows, a rarity in these parts...

* A morning full of prep work - classes, writing, emails, etc.

* An enjoyable trip to the nursing home in Biloxi to see my friends, Hezekiah, Mr. Flowers, Miss Katie, and others.

* On the way back, I parked at the Coast Coliseum and walked over to Beauvoir. Visitors to the Mississippi Gulf Coast know about Beauvoir - if you don't, you can read about it HERE. As the picture above shows, the exterior work is coming along nicely.

* I took Hillary to the eye doctor to make sure the contact lenses were working out.

* I'm about to take Hillary to dance class, where I plan to continue making progress on reading 'Tis by Frank McCourt, the follow up to Angela's Ashes. I'm enjoying it just as much as the original so far, mostly because McCourt's writing style is simply that wonderful.

* A scratchy throat appeared a couple of days ago, and today I noticed a white spot on the back of my throat. Probably nothing, but now I'm looking in the mirror ever so often with my mouth wide open, which isn't a pretty sight. :-)

2008-01-13T20:21:00.000-06:00

BLOG-SERVATION

These four lovely ladies (I find the one on the far left particularly fetching) are from the Ocean Springs Church of Christ, and I snapped this picture just before they loaded up and headed to the Youth Shelter to volunteer this afternoon.

This has been a long time in coming, and because you are interested, I will take the time to explain.

I shall begin by sharing a huge "church" pet peeve of mine: if church were compared to a high school curriculum, standard courses would be classes such as Go To Church 101, Praying Regularly (or at least know that you should be), Read Your Bibles (same exemption as Praying Regularly), Not Cussing Around Other People (or at least your preacher)... There are others, but you get the idea. In this metaphor of mine, Serving Hurting People would be considered an extracurricular activity. That is my pet peeve.

So I had this bright idea a year or so ago now. (Well, I have had several ideas I thought would be bright for many years now, but none of them took in motivating us to move Serving Hurting People into our core curriculum.) My idea was to REQUIRE (okay, maybe beg and plead and use guilt, etc.) all of our Sunday classes not just to talk about things, but to reach out into our community and serve real, breathing people.

Well, our Forty-Something Class decided we wanted to serve at-risk children, so we started trying to figure out how to go about doing just that. (This is how Dana and I ended up CASA volunteers.) Several members of our class found out about the Youth Shelter and wanted to volunteer there. This decision set off a frustrating, lengthy battle with applications and red tape, but today was the day these folks had their first chance to go and spend time at the shelter.

Do you know what happens in your community when children of abuse and neglect are rescued? I didn't. But I know now. They are taken to the Youth Shelter.

First, imagine being abused and neglected by your parents. Then, imagine being taken away from everything you've ever known to a small Youth Shelter where people are paid to watch you 24/7.

These lovely ladies pictured above know what kids that have experienced this look like now. They played today with two two-year old children and a nine-month old baby.

Jody said they learned a lot today, and they are looking forward to going back next month better equipped to brighten the dark lives of precious children.

It has been a long wait, but the persistence has been worth it.

2008-01-12T20:30:00.000-06:00

LAW SCHOOL UPDATE BLOG

Today was a big mail day at my house. In addition to a few bills, a few pieces of junk, and a few law schools introducing themselves to me, I received THREE... count 'em, THREE... acceptance letters.

I have been admitted to law school at the universities of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee for the Fall of 2008, which is just a pretty cool feeling. Arkansas even attached a nice little scholarship offer, bringing its price down a little below the level of the in-state Mississippi.

I did not expect to hear from anyone until February or so, but now I'll start running for the mailbox every day to look for letters from Florida, Pepperdine, St. Louis, and Virginia.

And just to make matters a bit more complicated, it looks like we will add another application this week, this time to the University of Missouri-Columbia (but this will be the last one, I promise!).

Looks like this law school idea is going to happen after all.

2008-01-11T17:27:00.000-06:00

JOURNAL BLOG

No pictures again today, even though it was a day "off" for me.

Jody and I had a really good talk this morning before she left for work about this whole law school concept. It really helped clarify some things as to our goals and way of thinking. Once we hear back from schools, I think we'll have a much easier time making decisions.

Late this morning, I ran/walked my two miles (three days a week, I do such fun). It turned out to be a gorgeous day after such a stormy day yesterday. Running in shorts and a long-sleeved t-shirt on January 11 with blue skies, a cool breeze, and temperatures in the upper 60s is just all right with me.

I headed to the office to do a little bit of work before picking up Hillary from school. Mostly some Habitat stuff after our meeting yesterday.

And now, I'm waiting for Jody to get off work so the three of us can spend the evening together (three, since Erica is back at college now). We need to talk more Science Fair with Hillary, and I suspect Jody & I will talk a little more about law school. I'm convinced it will be a good night, even before it happens.

2008-01-10T18:15:00.000-06:00

BLOGGING ABOUT FRIENDS

Hillary took the picture above of me with two of the coolest people around after our Governance Committee meeting in Biloxi for our Habitat for Humanity affiliate this afternoon.

I began Habitat for Humanity of Jackson County in early 2001, and Nicole Grundel came on board soon afterwards. She has been an integral part ever since. In fact, if there were an MVP from the Jackson County affiliate over the years of its existence, it would have to be Nicole. She was the glue that made everything happen. When term limits led to my exit from the board in 2006, Nicole stayed on and helped navigate the merger with the Harrison County affiliate to form Habitat for Humanity of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. HFHMGC is now the largest affiliate in the United States.

Chris Monforton is at the helm of HFHMGC, and he was made for the job. It takes everyone who meets him about two seconds to figure that out. I first met Chris shortly after Hurricane Katrina when he came to the Coast on assignment from Habitat for Humanity International. He first served as a consultant to the affiliates throughout our region. He was then hired as the Executive Director of the Harrison County affiliate, and finally, after the merger, he was hired as the Chief Executive Officer of HFHMGC. He has worked non-stop ever since.

There are lots of big things happening with our affiliate. The highlight of 2008 promises to be in May when we are scheduled to host the Jimmy Carter Work Project. This is a HUGE event, and I am SO excited about being a part of it. That my affiliate will host this event just before I move away is simply too cool for words.

But back to Nicole and Chris.

If you don't mind a little advice from me, let me offer some up for the taking: volunteer in your community. There are 1000s of reasons why, but I'll give you two that are plenty all by themselves. Meeting people like Nicole and Chris.

I'm not an attorney yet, but with that, I'll rest my case anyway.

2008-01-08T15:11:00.000-06:00

BLOG-VENTURE

I went on my first blog-venture of 2008, and had a (cue Tony the Tiger) GRRR-EAT time watching the BCS National Championship Game at the Superdome in New Orleans.

I am indebted to my friend, DeJon, forever and ever. He bought his parents tickets as a Christmas present to his dad, and he ended up with four tickets and only three people. I am both stunned and honored that he asked me to tag along, and I had an unbelievable time. I am an Arkansas Razorback fan, and thus an SEC fan. So, though it was strange to be so fully an LSU Tiger fan for one night (chanting L-S-U so many times my throat is sore today), it was just a whole lot of fun. GO TIGERS!!!

You can check out a folder of my pictures from yesterday HERE.

New Orleans was nuts. I knew it would be nuts, but it was more crowded and more crazy than I expected. I did get to park right next to the Dome for $20, which was refreshing…

I bought a BCS championship shirt first thing, since I didn’t have any purple or gold shirts in the closet, and then walked around the French Quarter for a while before meeting up with DeJon and his parents. We sat and talked (mostly about law school since, coincidentally, DeJon is applying to law schools right now, too) and wandered before deciding to head the mile or so back to the Superdome.

On the long walk back to the Dome, we stopped in the Ritz-Carlton for a potty break (I mean, if you gotta go, you might as well go at the Ritz-Carlton). There, we saw both Jimmy Johnson and Urban Meyer in the lobby. I was going to get my picture made with Jimmy Johnson, but he was on a cell phone when we started to leave and looked like he was in a hurry. He had posed for a few pics with others and seemed really gracious.

When we made it back to the Dome, we stood on the bridge, enjoying the cool breeze and 70 degree temps on a perfectly overcast day, and watching the assorted fruitcakes that continuously gathered around. When you check out my pics, you’ll see a pregnant LSU fan who had painted a tiger on her pooching belly, one of the reporters from the Best Dang Sports Show Period interviewing some wildly costumed characters, and other various and sundry oddities.

They opened the Dome at 4:30pm and we went in right away. Our seats were simply awesome. We were behind the E in the OHIO STATE endzone. We were officially on Row 17, but the actual seating started on Row 9, so we were actually on the 9th row. The end zone we sat in witnessed 6 of the 8 touchdowns scored in the game, including both of Richard Dickson’s TDs (my man from OCEAN SPRINGS!!!).

DeJon and I wandered over to the TV stage and saw Eddie George, Jimmy Johnson, Urban Meyer, etc. We also saw Archie Manning wandering around a bunch, along with lots of Fox Sports dudes and dudettes.

The game, of course, was great, and LOUD – a raucous, fun atmosphere.

When the game ended, we stayed for the trophy presentation and pretty much waited until all the players finally wandered off the field and into the dressing room. I left the Dome at 11:30, was on I-10 by 11:50, and home and in bed at 1:30am.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime sort of night. Simply unforgettable.

2008-01-06T20:04:00.000-06:00

My Buddy, Chase, After Class This Morning

BLOG LINK

Today began my tenth calendar year in Ocean Springs, and I issued a challenge for what promises to be my final year here: I challenged our church to become the friendliest church around.

I spent a lot of time playing around with the Greek word koinonia in my sermon. In particular, I told the fascinating origins of the Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia, a place that bears a tremendous likeness to the church described in Acts 2: 42-47.

I admitted out loud that I find it a bit embarrassing that I am a part of a heritage that claims that we are most like the restored First Century Church, when there is a farm in Georgia that lives together, works together, worships together, and studies together – EVERY DAY. Like the first church, you know.

If you don’t know about Koinonia Farm and its history, check it out HERE.

2008-01-05T20:57:00.000-06:00

Nothing much to take pictures of today...

JOURNAL BLOG

BOOKS: I started off this morning reading some more from The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning, a gift from my friend, John Dobbs. I'm motoring through it pretty fast, and enjoying it. Later, while at the library, I checked out 'Tis by Frank McCourt, the follow-up to the most excellent Angela's Ashes.

MOVIE: Jody, Hillary, and I watched the Jackie Chan version of Around the World in Eighty Days on The Disney Channel. Turned out to be one of those rare moments where all three of us saw a movie for the first time and ALL enjoyed it a lot.

SCIENCE FAIR: Hillary and I went to the library to begin looking for ideas for the Science Fair. We ended up with a couple of decent ideas. The bad news is that the projects are due in a couple of weeks.

FOOTBALL: I've spent the biggest part of the afternoon/evening watching NFL football. The Washington/Seattle game was interesting at times, though it ended in a blowout. I've enjoyed watching Jacksonville shine in the first half of the nightcap in Pittsburgh, but I really need to do some studying for tomorrow. I hope they can carry on without me.

2008-01-04T12:53:00.000-06:00

The New Hillary (With Contacts, Not Glasses!)

LAW SCHOOL BLOG

To confirm all rumors of my goofiness, I have now applied to a seventh law school.

To explain, I checked the little box in the Law School Data Assembly Service application that allowed them to release my information to other law schools. I did this on purpose. My GPA (from a long time ago) was high, and now my LSAT score is decent, so I thought there might be doors opened that I hadn’t considered. I’ve had emails asking me to consider applying to schools from Yeshiva (New York City) to LaVerne (Southern California).

Yesterday, however, I had an interesting one. Now, I’ve applied to SEVEN schools.

Saint Louis University is considered a second tier law school (as are two others on my list: UT-Knoxville and Pepperdine; Virginia and Florida are top tier, and Arkansas/Ole Miss are third tier). Their email yesterday informed me that I would be a strong candidate for their 1843 Scholars Program, which would provide full-tuition for all three years. That was interesting. They waived my application fee, and all I had to do was write an essay, which I did this morning. So, there.

I did a little math and figured that I’d be a top fifty candidate or so for these scholarships. They award ten. So, I don’t expect to get one, but there are definitely worse odds out there.

So… for all of you grading at home, here is where things stand for me in this crazy process (in alphabetical order):

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS: This is the only school I know I will be accepted at so far (based on their simple mathematical formula of admission). But the only real chance for UA in my book is if they waive out-of-state tuition and offer me a big scholarship. I doubt that will happen, but you never know.

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA: Florida is the overall frontrunner right now. I don’t expect any scholarship money from Florida, but I would go there anyway. Big scholarship offers from Arkansas, Ole Miss, Pepperdine, or Saint Louis would be worth considering. Acceptance from Virginia would be very interesting. And the wildcard, Tennessee, keeps flip-flopping with Florida in my mind, so anything could tip that balance back toward Big Orange Country (Tennessee Orange, that is).

UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI: Scholarship money would make Ole Miss very interesting, particularly if I was named one of their Eastland Scholars. Ole Miss is the most affordable choice for me already, and if that gap widened I would strongly consider going there.

PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY: I still really, really like Pepperdine. Jody’s job opportunities there and the fact that we’d be living and working and going to church on campus is just super cool. Going there, however, depends on scholarship money - specifically the President’s Award (for active members of Churches of Christ).

SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY: I would only consider Saint Louis if I was named an 1843 Scholar. Period.

UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE: This is the frustrating one for me. Because I like it a lot. It is grouped with the University of Florida in my mind in so many ways, and as of now I’m just leaning toward Florida. But that can change. Lots of factors could tip the scale.

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: This is by far the best school on my list. I do not think I will be accepted there. I would be at the bottom of their barrel. However, they make a big deal about the fact that they don’t base their offers solely on LSAT scores, so there is still a remote chance. And if they accepted me, I’d have a LOT of thinking to do. Because UVA is one awesome school.

If you can’t tell, I’ve been thinking about all this a lot. It is hard not to think about it all the time. I sort of suspect that I’ll hear from all the schools sometime in February (maybe not Virginia, but the rest). And February will be here before you know it.

I’ll keep you updated.

2008-01-03T17:22:00.000-06:00

My Friend, Hezekiah

Friend Blog

Hillary and I drove to Biloxi today to see our friend, Hezekiah, and as you can tell from the picture, he was looking especially fine today! He always looks good in a hat, and he was especially pumped about his new suit coat to go with his oversized sweats. Hezekiah is one cool dude.

I was really happy to hear he was pleased with how Santa Claus treated him this year, what with how I was the communicator to the Big Man in Red. Santa told me that he had never gone shopping for pipes in a tobacco store, but Hezekiah was very pleased with his new pipe and was giving it a good workout already. He wouldn't even take it out of his mouth to smile for a picture. And Hezekiah was really proud of his "brand new radio." I'm not totally convinced all the residents are quite as happy with Santa's work in that department, but at least the nursing home is never devoid of music.

Hillary and I enjoyed our visit, as always. I got to share another prayer with Mr. Flowers. We saw Miss Katie, who once again dramatically and emotionally shared her latest personal crisis with us (today's had something to do with coming inside out of the cold). We tried to help a sweet resident decipher a problem another lady was having, something to do with trying to get a duck for a dollar. We weren't much help there.

My oldest sister taught me how to visit a nursing home when I was Hillary's age. I hope Hillary will remember how when she grows up.

And I hope I never forget.

2008-01-02T21:27:00.000-06:00

Five Little Church Princesses After Class Tonight

BOOK BLOG

There's nothing better on a cold day like today than curling up with a good book. Which is why you shouldn't pick up John Grisham's Playing for Pizza on a cold day like today.

It pains me to write this because I like John Grisham. He's an Arkansas-Mississippi boy. He's an SEC fan. He seems to be a really good guy. He actually called me on the phone after Hurricane Katrina and donated a lot of money to our Habitat for Humanity affiliate to help build houses for needy people.

And I enjoy reading his books.

But not Playing for Pizza.

Well, now, I should qualify that last thought. I sort of enjoyed it. It is a fine story about football, and I like football. There just isn't much to it.

Playing for Pizza is a story about a stereotypical semi-dumb jock who ends up playing football in Italy after his career falls apart completely. There's sort of a hint at redemption in the storyline, but not much of one. In the end, he wins a game, gets the hot young girl, that sort of stuff...

I make it a point to read Grisham's books eventually. I think he does a great job with the legal thriller (The Street Lawyer is my personal favorite). He told a great Christmas story in Skipping Christmas. I enjoyed A Painted House, mostly because it was set in the area where I grew up. I've ordered his one nonfiction book (I'll report on it later).

But his two sports stories, Bleachers and Playing for Pizza... well, not so good.

Disclaimer: I am VERY thankful to my mother-in-law for giving me her copy of the book. I would have spent money to purchase it because I was definitely going to read it. She told me she didn't care for it, but thought I might since I understand football. Well, I do understand football, but that didn't help much. I can only imagine reading it without understanding football.

2008-01-01T14:36:00.000-06:00

Friends Connor and Hillary Kick Off 2008 on the Computer

New Year's Resolutions

#1: Start blogging every day again (much to the delight of Mamaw Bell!)

#2: Try to take pictures every day again (which I'll be very thankful for once we move away from our special friends)

#3: Eat less (the exercise habit stuck in '07, now on to the diet part)

#4: In the seven months I've got left here, help transform the Ocean Springs Church of Christ into the friendliest church in town!!! (launch date: January 6!)

#5: Thanks to my GREAT friend, DeJon... Go to the BCS National Championship Game!!! (#16 on my "things to do before I die" list)

#6: Thanks to my GREAT friend, David... Publish a photography book called, My Ocean Springs (#17 on my "things to do before I die" list)

#7: Meet Jimmy Carter when our affiliate hosts the Jimmy Carter Work Project in May (#18 on the list)

#8: Go to Law School (#19 on the list)

#9: Make new friends in a new hometown

#10: Make excellent grades my first law school semester!!!

2007-12-24T11:12:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas from Ocean Springs!!!!!!!!!

It is odd to consider that, if all goes as planned, this will be our last Christmas in Ocean Springs. The weather this year has been absolutely gorgeous, up until the last day or two when the cold breezes began to blow. We have really enjoyed warm Decembers over our years here.

We plan to be traveling over the next several days, so let me go ahead and say Merry Christmas to everyone, and even a Happy New Year just in case I don't get back to blogging before then.

May your days be merry and bright. And may all your Christmases be around 70 degrees with palm trees on the beach.

2007-12-22T09:56:00.000-06:00

I don't know if it is a breach of test-taking etiquette to share your score with the world at large, but I received an early Christmas present yesterday when the Law School Admission Council posted my LSAT score earlier than I anticipated.

I scored a 161, which puts me at the 84th percentile of test takers. Not as high as I wanted (is it ever?), but not as low as it could have been, too. It is a solid score with which I am satisfied.

The score, in effect, rules out the University of Virginia and the University of Arkansas from consideration, leaving me with four schools on my list:
* Florida
* Ole Miss
* Pepperdine
* Tennessee

I looked at my responses, and of the four test sections, I missed 3, 4, 10, and 6 respectively. I wish I knew what happened on that third scored section!!! If I wouldn't have blown that particular part of the test, my score would have been several points higher!

But as my beautiful wife pointed out, she prayed for me to get the score I needed to get, so we should be satisfied.

And I am.

2007-12-20T20:55:00.000-06:00

Thanks for all the super-cool things said to me in response to our big announcement (both here and in bunches of private emails). I highly suggest everyone make a big move, just for all the nice things people say.

Christmas is five days away. More on my mind, my LSAT reporting date is thirteen days away. Today, however, was an ugly, rainy day, though it did not dampen the spirits of my youngest who got out of school for Christmas break. It has been a perfect day to sit around the house and read a good book, which is what I have been doing.

My friend, Bruno, has been reading a book from Frank McCourt (either 'Tis or Teacher Man, I forget). Somewhere in that news, my friend Trent Austin said that Angela's Ashes was the best McCourt book in his opinion (and Trent's opinion when it comes to books is most valuable). So I checked Angela's Ashes out recently and have been meaning to find some time to read it.

I had read the first third of the book over the past three weeks. I've read the second third so far today. Simply an amazing book.

McCourt's memory of an unspeakable childhood is impeccable. His writing ability is superb. His humor while sharing tragic stories is amazing.

Okay, forget blogging. I've got to go read another chapter. Or ten.

2007-12-18T15:39:00.000-06:00

I’m moving. Well, next August is still a long ways off. But I’m moving anyway.

It has been ten weeks now since my self-imposed blogging hiatus, and I guess it’s about time to return. It all began with my trying to simplify life (remember that crazy check-email-once-a-day attempt?). Somewhere in the middle of that process, my wife and I began having some deep talks about the future, and somewhere in the middle of that our computer crashed. That was a convenient reason for the break.

I’ve just had a lot to sort out before spewing my life details out to the world at-large once more.

But I’m ready now.

Somewhere in October Jody and I decided that I should try to go to law school next year. I’m 37 years old, so I think this qualifies as a mid-life crisis. Going to law school is better than getting a girlfriend (and Jody said it would be cheaper, too), and a sports car just isn’t my style. No, I’ll just reinvent my life instead, incur heavy student loans for old time’s sake, and move from our beautiful home to a college apartment.

I’m pumped about it.

The downside is leaving people we love, which we will have to do next August. We told the elders of our church family in November, and broke it to the whole church family in December. Most everyone has been very supportive of the fact that we are following our hearts, even when our hearts are leading us into uncharted waters. The funny thing is, when your heart is convicted, you’ll follow it whether others are supportive or not. But the support has been heartwarming.

It’s pretty cool that I can count about two people who are probably glad to get rid of us at church, and they’ve been nice enough not to say it. Lots and lots and lots of people have told us they really hate it that we’re leaving. Some are even scared of the prospect. But they still tell us that we should do what we think is right for us to do. Very, very cool.

While I wasn’t blogging, I was sneaking around studying for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). Remember now, I hadn’t taken a real test in 13 years or so, much less a killer test like the LSAT. I took it a couple of weeks ago, so now I’m awaiting my scores. From what I can tell, I will get the results on January 2. I will either be really happy or really grumpy that day. Don’t say I didn’t warn you either way.

I’ve sent in my application to six schools. It will probably be March or April before we know for sure where we’ll be headed.

· The best law school on my list is the University of Virginia, but I really doubt I’ll end up there. For one, there’s this tricky thing about being accepted there. If that miracle occurs, then I have to decide if the debt is worth it.

· Just behind UVA for me is Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. There are lots of reasons to go to Pepperdine, not including Pamela Anderson (Hi, Jody!). The biggest problem there is money, so I’ll have to wait and see about scholarships there.

· The next two of interest are the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and the University of Florida-Gainesville. I really like both schools, and I go back and forth as to which one I like best (mostly depending on the weather that day!).

· Ole Miss is the smart financial choice. Oxford is a cool little town from what I hear, too.

· Last, and least for me, is my alma mater, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. I loved it there, but for several reasons, it comes in sixth on my list of six.

Well, let’s not overdo it on my first day back on the blogging wagon. But I thought all four of you faithful readers deserved a somewhat substantial update.

I’ll try to get back in the habit. If not daily, at least often.

2007-11-29T17:04:00.000-06:00

Not a great picture. Just my way of saying, "I was there!"

(That is, way back in the day, when Houston Nutt coached the Razorbacks.)
:-)

2007-11-08T15:35:00.000-06:00

I had a great time yesterday chaperoning a field trip to the National World War 2 Museum in New Orleans. It sort of cracks me up to realize that many people think New Orleans is a place where boogey-men jump out from every corner, and we take kids on field trips there. I love New Orleans - come back if you get the chance.

The Museum was super cool, and I got to escort the three bright and beautiful girls pictured above around all day long. (They make pretty good Rosie the Riveters, don't you think?) We went on a self-guided tour during the first part of the day. We went to the Riverwalk for lunch, and for dessert I got to buy beignets for the girls (Alexa had never had one before!) from the Cafe du Monde store. After lunch, we went on a docent-led tour, which was the best of all. If you go to the Museum, see if you can get a guide - that makes it extra special.

My dad turned 21 the day before Pearl Harbor was bombed, and he enlisted in the Navy shortly thereafter. He was at the Battle of Midway, which I always heard was the turning point of the war in the Pacific.

So World War II has always carried a special fascination with me.

Hanging out in a museum dedicated to that time in history with my daughter made for a special day.

2007-10-09T08:10:00.000-05:00

#1: Our home computer died last night. We knew it was coming, but its still a bit of a blow. You just can't prepare yourself for these things - you think you're ready, but...

#2: My heart hasn't been in blogging recently, as has been apparent I'm sure.

So...

Don't expect to hear from me here for awhile. And when I return, it might be weekly instead of daily.

Just so's you know...

2007-10-08T15:34:00.000-05:00

It's Dallas Cowboy night on Monday Night Football (well, for me - I guess it is also Buffalo Bills night for others), and I'm excited about the possibility of my favorite team moving to 5-0 on the season. At this point, only the Colts and the Patriots are undefeated, too, and I'm pretty happy to see my team mentioned in the same breath as those franchises.

2007-10-07T19:50:00.000-05:00

My gut tells me that electing judges is a fundamentally bad idea, but such is the case in the State of Mississippi. The idea that judges should worry about popularity is simply problematic. Nonetheless, when Sharon Sigalas runs for another term as Youth Court Judge, I would go out of my way to campaign for her.

Judge Sigalas is so very good. She is also hilarious, funny enough to make for a great court television show, but the sad cases she deals with day after day aren't for public consumption. Child abuse and neglect is not for entertainment.

Jody, Hillary, and I had the opportunity to eat lunch at the judge's house today, along with other CASA volunteers. We had a wonderful lunch, with even better conversation. It was great fun hearing her stories, and it got even better when her husband (an attorney) came out and added to the mix. The two of them could keep anyone entertained for hours!

It was interesting to notice that, as is often the case in South Mississippi, the conversation ended up hovering around Hurricane Katrina. I wonder how long that will be the case?

Today was simply a great afternoon.

2007-10-06T19:51:00.000-05:00

Enjoyed an all-church fish fry tonight. We had WAY too much food, but that's usually better than the alternative. I think we ended up with about twelve basketfuls left over.

2007-10-05T16:40:00.000-05:00

It's "Cruisin' the Coast" week on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the biggest special event in the state of Mississippi. 2007 marks the 11th year for the classic car event, a spectacle that draws over 5,000 cars from 37 states, bringing with them about a $15 million boost to the local economy.

Ocean Springs is in full festival mode, having blocked off the downtown area for three consecutive days. I went down around lunchtime to take some pictures, and it RAINED and RAINED while I was down there. I still came away with a few pics, including the 1940 Chevy Sedan above. Later, my daughter and I went back together, and this time it was sunny and hot! I forgot my camera that time, so I'll have to settle for the picture above.

2007-10-04T20:50:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture from the Gautier Convention Center today, where I worked a United Way event with our county CASA director, Frances. CASA is a family event for her, and her invaluable (and most impressive) daughter, Katie, was there as always to help her mom. They make quite a team.

Outside of that enjoyable event, today was sort of a dark, introspective sort of day. However, tonight I had a long, long, long, long, long talk with my wife, and it turned out to be one of our best talks of all time. Isn't this the way things are supposed to work? Turn to your closest friend for the support you need? It sure worked tonight, and the world is suddenly a brighter place.

2007-10-03T17:40:00.000-05:00

107 days ago, I pledged to begin exercising again, and for proof that the age of miracles still exists, I am still keeping my pledge.

Admittedly, I’ve modified the practice a bit over that time period. Now, after listening to my jogging friends and my aging knees, I do my running three days a week. But I’ll quickly add that last week I reached my original goal of two miles each time I hit the road!

A secret to my success this time around involves timing. I’ve NEVER been a “first thing in the morning” athlete, and though exercising late at night sounds good in theory, it never worked out for me in practice. It was just so easy after a long day to talk myself out of it and go to bed. But getting up early, doing a little work, etcetera, then exercising after being up about an hour has worked out well for me. And I’m happy.

This morning, however, was a challenge. My wife switched hours with a friend at work, so I needed to take Hillary to school. Plus, my first court date as a CASA volunteer was this morning in Pascagoula, so I realized last evening that, if I would exercise today, it would be one of those “first thing in the morning” deals. And I hate those deals.

But I did it. I got up at 5:30am, ate a quick bowl of cereal, got dressed, and hit the road at 6am.

It is DARK at 6am around here!!! Nothing but dark skies, scattered stars, and a bright moon. And me.

And kids!!!

Sheesh, there were high school kids lining up at the bus stop at 6:07am today! In the stinkin’ dark!

After seeing the first gathering of kids, I continued my run, and soon was lost in thought. Thoughts like, “Why does my breathing pattern sound like I’m a heavy smoker?” Thoughts like that… And then, out of nowhere, like a scene out of an October Halloween movie, I passed by another couple of teenagers lined up in the dark for the school bus, looking like zombies with their floppy hair covering their eyes, silent in the early darkness.

It was pretty freaky.

I have a feeling I’d look like a zombie if I had to line up for a school bus in the dark, too, but still, I’d appreciate a warning or something.

2007-10-02T18:33:00.000-05:00

I'm posting a wee bit earlier tonight in hopes of going to BED at a decent hour. No, I'm hoping to go to bed earlier than a decent hour. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by life right now and could use some rest.

My friend, John Dobbs, has a great question posed on his blog, one that I'd encourage people to discuss with him. At this point, I'm the one needing answers to it, too, and am in no position to offer constructive advice. So it's a two-for-one deal, help both of us out with an answer to being "Overwhelmed By Opportunity."

I had my first CASA home interview today, and I'm already going to be in court tomorrow morning. I'm in love with CASA, by the way.

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Just for giggles: my word verification for this post is "idbrp"

Well, if you drink too much Coca-Cola at once, of course you would.

2007-10-01T22:29:00.000-05:00

So I drop by the office this afternoon because… well, how do I put this nicely… well, I had to pee.

TMI I know, but anyhow…

First thing I notice is smoke billowing across the parking lot. With great reverence to the biological wonders of God, my personal needs were suddenly less important because, in case you haven’t heard, where there’s smoke there’s FIRE!

It didn’t take me long to discover a brush fire in the backyard of one of our business neighbors, but this was odd on two accounts:
(1) they are out of business and the building is vacant, and…
(2) no one was there.

I did a little wandering around following my discovery because wandering around is what you do in situations like this, and then I decide to call the realtor who has the place listed because I’m guessing she would be more concerned about this than anyone. She was. She thanked me and said she would call the fire department.

That’s good, I think. I didn’t want to be involved in case the neighbors are burning some brush and get mad at me.

So I go back to wandering around again, and I run into another neighbor. We talk, and I learn that the owners “had” been there that morning working on the building, so I’m starting to feel guilty right away. So I decide to go to the bathroom.

But, no.

I notice a lady walking up to the property, and my first thought is, “Oh, crap (sorry for the foul language), now I’m caught.” So, like the sad puppy I am, I go over to talk to her and admit my moral failings, but I get the distinct impression that this was not the owner, but the realtor (for one, she was a different race, and for two, she seemed to be wandering around like me).

Turns out it wasn’t the realtor, but someone who had just dropped by to check out the property for sale. Anyhoo, she enlisted me in an attempt to put out the fire.

So now I’m getting deeper in this.

Well, we start to fill up an abandoned cooler with water from a water hose when the real fire truck shows up. I happen to know one of the firemen, which was cool, but anyway, they put out the fire quickly. Most excitement they’ve had all day (and me, too).

So one of the other firemen comes up with a notebook and wants my name, address, and telephone number.

So I’m getting ratted out on this deal anyway!

Oh well, at least the story ends well. After all the water putting out the fire, I finally got the chance to go in and use the bathroom.

What is the moral of this story? Well, if you have to pee, and there's a fire in the backyard of an abandoned neighbor's business, and if you don't want to give your contact information to the fire department, well, instead of wandering around, just go extinguish the fire naturally.

2007-09-30T15:55:00.000-05:00

I will readily admit that my hero today is Tony Romo, and my elation over the Cowboys start to this NFL season cannot be eclipsed by anything, even an amazing NFL record. But I'll have to say that Brett Favre's record-setting today is cool.

Favre is from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, which is downright funny in a way: his reputation as a gritty, frozen tundra sort of quarterback doesn't mesh well with the fact that he grew up on the beach. Nonetheless, you see a lot of Packers stuff down here, along with a lot of Turan-Foley car commercials, for which he is the spokesman. Favre is the local boy done good, and he has now done good-er than any other quarterback in NFL history.

The former Hancock High and Southern Miss star passed legend Dan Marino today and became the quarterback with the most touchdown passes in the history of professional football. Pretty good for a Mississippi boy.

In fact, for all the Mississippi-haters out there, when you think about the three high-profile skill positions in football, an argument can be made that a Mississippi boy is the best at each: Favre at quarterback, Jerry Rice at wide receiver, and Walter Payton at running back.

I'm just saying, we'll take on the team from your state. :-)

2007-09-29T20:42:00.000-05:00

Quite a sports weekend...

So far, four of the top ten college football teams have been beaten this weekend, with two more (USC and Florida) in a fight as I write. The biggest to fall so far has been #3, Oklahoma.

The baseball pennant race in the National League is going down to the final day, too, with two of the four positions up for grabs. So far, the Cubs and Diamondbacks are in, but the Phillies, Mets, Padres, and Rockies are still trying to see who will move on.

And Week 4 of professional football tomorrow!

What a weekend for a sports fan!

2007-09-28T22:32:00.000-05:00

It's been a weird day, which is about the best I can say about it. I think it has been an important day, in some strange ways.

Anyway, tonight I just thought I'd share the picture of myself and Latan Griffin in front of the Ocean Springs Church of Christ that was published in Habitat World and sent to millions of places all over the world. HERE is the article, too, if you're interested in reading.

2007-09-27T22:11:00.000-05:00

It has been a very enjoyable day:

* It began with breakfast at the Bayview Gourmet with my friend, Bruno, and two Episcopalian priests, Wayne Ray and Harold Roberts.

* It continued with my weekly meeting with my youth minister, Trent.

* It continued with chaperoning my daughter's field trip to the library. While there, I met with Nicole Grundel, a fellow board member with Habitat for Humanity of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and we had a wonderful visit. We did more catching up than work, but that was worth it anyway.

* It continued afterwards with taking Hillary to the Ocean Springs Homecoming Parade. All of us hear in Mardi Gras country know how to have a parade, as the picture above demonstrates. Hillary came home with LOTS of beads, candy, and toys!

* It continued after that with a lengthy telephone conversation with my friend, Michael Lasley, who teaches at Pepperdine. It was really good to talk to him again.

* It concluded with dinner and football at Tracy & Shanna Havard's house tonight. They also invited two other sets of family friends, the Bosarges and the Ruffins. Southern Miss was getting kicked, but the food and friendship was fun.

Lots of neat people in my life today... Really good stuff...

2007-09-26T21:31:00.000-05:00

I received my very first CASA case this week. Confidentiality laws (and a lick of common sense) means that I cannot give any details, but suffice it to say that it is sad what many children face in this world of ours. Children who live in our backyards. I hope to make a difference.

I'm not a big TV promoter either, but for those of you who like watching CSI, word is that the season premier tomorrow evening will have CASA ads and PSA's sprinkled in throughout the show. I may not get to see it since my family has been invited over to a friend's house to watch Southern Miss play football, so you'll have to report in here if you see any of the ads!

2007-09-25T22:04:00.000-05:00

Two of my most well-read friends swear by the book, Love in the Time of Cholera, so I checked it out of the Ocean Springs Library recently, and I finished it tonight.

On the one hand, my prudish self blushed a LOT at all the sex stuff in this love story, but on the other, it was a masterfully written novel that weaves an unforgettable story of the unbelievable potential for forever love. Once captured by Marquez's masterpiece, I am assuming that one will never forget Florentino Ariza's love for Fermina Daza.

I noticed online that there is a movie in production based on this novel, but it looked like it might be a foreign movie that would doubtfully make it to South Mississippi. But if it does, I'll have to check it out.

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By the way, for those scoring at home, my attempts at drastically cuttting down my time on the computer is off to a good start these first two days. I mean, there was some sweating and the munchies, but I'm thinking I'll just take up smoking and I'll be okay. :-)

2007-09-24T06:03:00.000-05:00

Okay, I may not be as successful as Paris and Nicole in achieving The Simple Life, but today’s a big day for me because I’m going to go for it anyway.

From studying Jesus in an attempt to follow after him, I’m well aware that I need to change a LOT of things. One of those things stems from my discovery that Jesus wasn’t busy. You’d think Jesus would have had a rather full agenda, but instead he always seemed to have time for people. I don’t always have time for people because I have “too many things to do.”

Which means I have too many things to do.

And I’ve got to change that…

One of the things I am going to do is spend less time on a computer.

As for now, I still plan to post something every day on this blog, but my plan is to do it after my daughter’s bedtime when I check my email and write in my new “people” journal. That’s right, I’m planning to check my email ONCE a day!!! (John Dobbs just fainted.)

We’ll see how this goes. My life is a work in progress, so this change is definitely a work in progress, too.

But I’m serious.

So, first of all, expect my blog entries to come at night starting tomorrow, and secondly, don’t expect me to answer emails and blog comments nearly as frequently as before.

This is my new reality show: The Simple(r) Life.

Wish me luck.

2007-09-23T06:14:00.000-05:00

Thankfully, I missed the Arkansas/Kentucky game for a party at church last night. Patrice put together a party for our Forty-Something Class. There were twelve of us there, and we had pizza, chips & homemade dip, and chocolate cake & chocolate chip cookies to eat, and lots of choices of board games to play.

We began with the 20th anniversary of Pictionary, and even after twenty years I still stink at that game. We played men vs. women, and the women won easily.

We then played Family Feud, and the male species found their revenge. At a crucial point in the game, we chose to pass instead of play on the "8 things that you think of when you think of Zorro" question, and that clinched the victory!

Finally, we played the Newlywed Game, and after a really poor performance for the biggest part of the game, my wife and made an impressive comeback and won on the very last bonus question! We've still got it, baby!!!!

But what a great night. Lots and lots and lots of laughing and fun with friends. Contrary to the beer commercial, I say it just doesn't get any better than that...

2007-09-22T09:38:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a good day all around. Sure, I hate mowing, but I do love it when its done. I went with my wife and daughter to watch some Jaguar Volleyball last night, and even though they lost, they played great and we had a blast. Then, to top it off, the little tropical system in the Gulf fizzled out and I don't even think it has rained here yet.

This morning, I'd like to do a little advertising.

My friend, Holly, sent me a Facebook message asking me to spread the word on my blog about a concert in Paragould, Arkansas, on October 27. Many of you will remember my writing about Willie Sandlin (pictured above) when he won the battle of life in early July. Well, there is a "Horizon Alumni Concert" scheduled at Crowley's Ridge Academy on October 27, with the proceeds from the concert going to the Sandlin family.

I graduated from and later taught at Crowley's Ridge Academy, and Horizon is a group formed years ago now by Mrs. Debbie Stokes that is dedicated to musical performance. A lot of talented folks have passed through her program, and when word came that she had cancer last year, they put together an alumni concert just for her. This year, she is doing so much better (yea!!!), so this year's concert has two goals: (1) to make Mrs. Stokes smile again, and (2) to provide much-needed financial assistance to the Sandlin family.

I won't be able to attend, but if anyone is in the Northeast Arkansas area, I would highly encourage you to attend.

Holly was very excited that my good friend, Jon Conley (a Horizon alumni himself), will be performing at the concert! Jon is our local celebrity, having played lead guitar for the likes of Wynonna Judd, Lee Greenwood, and Leann Rimes in his years in Nashville.

Sounds like a lot of fun...

2007-09-21T06:17:00.000-05:00

I plan to mow my yard this morning. I hate mowing my yard on any morning.

I had planned to mow it tomorrow morning, but I made the mistake of checking out the weather. The little storm creeping across the Gulf looks as if it will translate into some stormy weather tonight and tomorrow for our area, so if the yard will get mowed this weekend, it will have to be this morning. And it sure needs mowing.

The tropical weather / yard-mowing combination brings to mind a humorous anectdote from Katrina. My good friend, Herman, and I have had lots of entertaining conversations over the years, many of them in the days after Katrina. We lived in the same neighborhood, and both of us had six feet of water in our houses. For extra fun, I had a huge tree on my house, and Herman lost all of his automobiles.

Anyway...

I remember sitting at the church building one day when a thought came to mind and I told Herman, "I just thought of something really depressing."

"What?" he replied.

"I mowed my yard just before Katrina."

Herman laughed, then said, "I've got you beat. I filled my truck up with gas."

2007-09-20T06:52:00.000-05:00

I'm having a lot of deep thoughts myself right now, although a bit unlike Mr. Handey's deep thinking as exhibited above. None of my deep thinking is bloggable just yet, however. Some mental journeys are best taken alone.

I did tell my friend, Trent, while in Memphis, that I've been in sort of a funk lately. He said that it seems like everyone he's been talking to lately has said the same thing. Maybe there's something in the weather.

Whatever it is, I'm mostly just checking in today - doing my bit to maintain my spiritual discipline of blogging. But it isn't because there isn't anything significant to report. There just isn't anything significant to report out loud.

2007-09-19T06:30:00.000-05:00

After four straight days away, I'm searching for an up side to getting back to work today. The best I can come up with is the fact that I don't have to drive hundreds of miles today, like I've done for each of the past four days.

Prepping for Sunday, and studying for Peak of the Week tonight are the highlights on today's agenda.

2007-09-18T21:17:00.000-05:00

Quick update on my trip to Memphis:

#1: I stopped briefly (seriously, ten minutes) to see the Kelley family pictured above on the way in last night. I called John as I passed through, and after talking to him (though I didn't REALLY have the time!), I just couldn't help stopping to see their new, precious addition, Alivia. Though she fussed for the picture, it was such an honor to hold her for a minute. John, Jinger, Alicia, and Alivia are family to us, and more special than they will ever understand.

#2: I made it to my friend, Trent's, apartment at 7pm. Trent is a very special friend as well, and I hadn't seen him in probably a decade (though we've communicated a lot via email and in blog land). We started talking at 7pm, made a trip to Huey's to eat their world famous hamburgers while we kept talking, and decided to shut down the conversation at 12:30am this morning (although we could have gone all night long talking). We talked about some deep stuff, we watched some football, and we laughed at hilarious old memories. Just like old times, in other words.

#3: I went to sleep on Trent's couch at 12:30am with the alarm set at 5am. I actually woke up before the alarm sounded. I showered and drove to Baptist Memorial East for my niece's surgery at 5:30am. I got to see Jessica before she went back for the surgery just after 7am. They began the surgery at 7:50am, expecting it to take 4 or 5 hours, but when they got inside they discovered a much better situation than expected!!! The surgery only lasted two hours, and instead of getting into the gory details, suffice it to say that everyone was pleasantly surprised with the outcome! Jessica will still end up staying in the hospital for a week or so, and this was her 5th major surgery at only 24 years old, so things aren't perfect by any stretch. But there is a big sigh of relief rising from my family this evening.

I cannot thank you all enough for your prayers and concerns.

2007-09-17T06:06:00.000-05:00

I hope folks read my blog entry from yesterday. I was seriously floored by the graciousness of the folks I met in Tuscaloosa.

And by the way, the pictures I took are all better than what you saw in the cramped slideshow from yesterday’s blog. Instead, go to my “webshots page” link on the left of this page, click on the Arkansas/Alabama game folder, then click slideshow (it doesn’t cut off the edges). Some of them are print-worthy or good for your desktop displays. Feel free to download and/or pass around.

I have another big day today. I’m headed to Memphis tonight so I can be with my family early Tuesday for a major surgery my niece, Jessica, is facing. Please pray for her.

I don’t plan to blog again until late Tuesday evening.

2007-09-16T19:17:00.001-05:00

Arkansas vs Alabama at Tuscaloosa

Today just happens to be my 37th birthday, and I’ve had a terrific one. The trip to Tuscaloosa yesterday was just great, in so many ways…

* The drive from Ocean Springs to Tuscaloosa is an easy one with easy traffic
* My friend, Shannon, had us a great parking place at the house of a friend of his, a super neat guy who has run for mayor of Tuscaloosa before… He was a gracious host, and he has some of the coolest Alabama football memorabilia decorating his house.
* The weather was perfect, though a little hot wandering around campus yesterday afternoon, but I’d be a sad person to complain about yesterday’s weather.
* We had a quick lunch at Quizno’s before wandering all over campus: we toured the Bear Bryant Museum, wandered around the Quad, and then stopped by the President’s Mansion (which was only open for private guests, but a young representative from the University of Alabama took the time to give us a full rendition of the mansion’s amazing history!)
* We got into Bryant-Denny Stadium super early, and Hillary was glued next to the fence where the cheerleaders were warming up. Her two biggest desires before the game were to get a Razorback pom-pom and one of the little hog stickers for her face. It took two seconds at the fence before the cheerleader sponsor gave her both unprompted.
* And then there was the game. I’m sure some Alabama fans will call it THE game for a while now. It was an awesome game, even if my team did end up on the short end at the game’s conclusion. In spite of the way it began, it turned out to be very entertaining.

But much to the chagrin of many of my friends, and much to the delight of a few others, I’ve got to say something: Jody, Hillary, and I had the best time meeting Alabama fans.

#1: It began of course, with Shannon’s friend, Mark, who was so gracious to us.

#2: It continued at the fence before the game when Hillary and I met one of the girlfriends of an Alabama player. It was her boyfriend’s first time to dress out with the team, and we had the best time helping her find him among the players and talking to her. She didn’t care that we were for Arkansas. She was simply a nice person.

#3: It continued at our seats, completely surrounded by Alabama fans. We instantly made friends with the guy sitting next to us, and by the time the game was over, everyone was congratulating us on a great game as we did the same in return. I’m serious: it was like we were among family.

#4: It also happened at halftime, while I stood in a super-long line for a hot dog and soda. The lady in front of me was an Alabama fan, and in the pressing crowd it seemed that everyone that needed through asked to walk in front of her. We had the best time during the fourteen-hour wait laughing about her invisible sign asking people to cut in front of her. She was a lot of fun.

#5: On the way out of the stadium after the game, stuck between tons of joyous Alabama fans, one couple struck up a friendly conversation, complimenting out team, and just being good people.

#6: And then outside the stadium, as we walked through the throng of fans yelling ROLL TIDE (much to Hillary’s dismay!), a young representative of the university approached us and asked if we had enjoyed our stay at the game. I’m serious!!! We assured him that we had, and he made it clear that they had every intention that we enjoyed our visit to Tuscaloosa, and I hope I made it clear that we did.

I’ve heard lots of people say that they have two favorite teams: (1) their favorite team, and (2) whoever is playing Alabama.

Well, after the way we were treated in enemy territory, I think I lost my interest in that second favorite team.

2007-09-15T06:32:00.000-05:00

I had the pleasure of taking this picture of Darren McFadden (#5) and the Arkansas Razorbacks last year in an early season game at Auburn. At the time, Auburn was ranked among the best in the nation, and Arkansas wasn't. I went without a ticket, found one outside next to the Arkansas section, and had the best time at a sporting event in my life as McFadden made a name for himself and the Razorbacks whipped the War Eagles.

I can't really hope for a complete repeat performance today, but maybe it can come close.

My family is headed to Tuscaloosa today (without tickets) to watch the Hogs battle the Crimson Tide at 5:45pm on ESPN tonight. The weather is expected to be perfect. It will be the first big home game for Nick Saban in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Our good friend, Shannon, has hooked us up with a great parking place. I am SO excited about today!

I graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1992, and my last roommate there is one of my favorite people ever (Jon Wood). Jon was finishing law school when I was finishing my undergrad degree, and he came to law school after doing graduate work at the University of Alabama. He was a HUGE sports fan, too, and I've never forgotten him saying that I had to go to a football game in Tuscaloosa at least once in my life.

That 15-year-old desire is scheduled for today.

GO HOGS GO!!!!

(Expect a report tomorrow night!)

2007-09-14T06:25:00.000-05:00

A storm rolled through just as I arrived with my daughter last night to her elementary school’s Open House, and though it put a literal damper on the evening, it still turned out to be fun. Hillary goes to a good public school, with excellent teachers, populated by lots of cool kids from neat, diverse families.

I have lived in Ocean Springs for close to nine years now. I am not an extrovert by any stretch, but I do get involved in things that allow me to form relationships with folks, so after nine years I do feel like I know quite a few people in this community. I enjoy noticing on nights like last night that I am a part of a community.

Someday it might hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks, but so far I have enjoyed watching both of my daughters grow up. I have enjoyed each passing phase instead of getting weepy over the fact that they aren’t little girls anymore.

But they are definitely both growing up. Twenty years old, and ten years old sure aren’t babies. I could tell last night at Open House that my “baby” stands on the brink of adolescence. Life will be changing dramatically, and soon.

2007-09-13T06:30:00.000-05:00

I've been looking forward to today. If nothing explodes in the next few hours, I plan to take the short drive to Mobile, Alabama, for lunch with three of my preacher friends. All three of these guys are friends of one another from way back, but they've graciously allowed me into their circle on days like today, and for that I am thankful.

I'm a bit concerned that we're eating lunch at Bob Baumhower's restaurant, seeing as how he's an Alabama boy, and my Razorbacks are battling the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa this Saturday. I don't think this qualifies as an act of betrayal on my part, though. :-)

My three preacher friends are bloggers, too, if you haven't visited their cyber-world already:
* John Dobbs (the king of all bloggers)
* Danny Dodd
* Les Ferguson

If you go to their blogs today, you'll read about my topic from yesterday on two of them. Both John and Danny knew various parts of the family of Heather Spencer, the young lady brutally murdered two days ago. Danny, in fact, has been asked to preach her funeral in Jackson tomorrow, so I hope today's lunch will be good timing for him as a bright spot in a dark week.

I don't know about these three jokers, but this lunch today is good timing for me.

2007-09-12T06:59:00.000-05:00

I was in a meeting yesterday afternoon at my daughter's elementary school when my cell phone silently buzzed in my pocket. When I had a chance to check it, I saw it was from Jay, but he didn't leave a message. I assumed that it wasn't important, but I was very wrong.

Jay's son-in-law, Matt, called me about an hour later to see if I had heard about Jay's niece, Heather. The tragic news was that Heather had been murdered by her boyfriend in Jackson that morning.

I didn't know Heather personally, just her family. I was called to pass along the call to prayer to our church family and the world via email, which I did. It turns out that several of my preacher buddies have ministered to various parts of this family over the years, and what I've heard repeatedly is that Heather was a beautiful and kind girl. She was 28 years old.

The newspaper in Jackson covered the story yesterday, and it is their lead story this morning. Yesterday's reports offered the horrible description, "bludgeoned to death," as the cause of death. There was a lengthy standoff at a gas station. It seems that the murderer had his mom in the car with him - and a gun - and was threatening to kill himself. Eventually, the SWAT team and their negotiators talked him into surrendering.

What do you say to tragedies such as this? Nothing constructive. Bemoaning the state of the world doesn't get us anywhere, nor does putting on a false, happy face. And saying how sorry we feel doesn't seem to go very far either. We pray, mostly because that's all we know to do.

But maybe the best offering we can make today is the powerful, reverent gift of silence. Sometimes being speechless is the most appropriate response of all.

2007-09-11T06:24:00.000-05:00

Today is September 11.

It doesn't seem like six years has gone by, though I couldn't tell you what it seems like instead. It remains one of those landmark days, but for those of us not personally affected by the loss of a loved one, it is possible for the date to sneak up without our realizing it. It sneaked up on me.

I still see lots of bumper stickers claiming that we will never forget, and overall, we won't. Both the ghastly and heroic images combine to form a solitary image, seared in our memories, labeled 9-11. My youngest daughter doesn't remember that day. She was four years old. But a whole lot of us remember, and always will.

So much as changed since those attacks - wars, public policy, the airline industry, even our national vocabulary. Then again, so much hasn't - our materialism, apathy, lifestyle...

My daughter just came in to give me a morning hug. Her oversized nightshirt, still on early this Tuesday, is an I LOVE NEW YORK shirt with the big heart there to represent the word, love.

An appropriate shirt this morning, I'm sure, on this day to remember...

2007-09-10T06:12:00.000-05:00

The last time the Cowboys played the Giants in Texas Stadium...
* Bill Parcells was coaching the Cowboys
* Drew Bledsoe started at quarterback
* T.O. couldn't hold on to the football
* The Giants won easily
* I was there with my longtime buddy, David Watson

Everything was different last night...
* Wade Phillips got off to a good start as head coach
* Tony Romo looked like an MVP
* T.O. scored two TD's, including a spectacular catch
* The Cowboys rolled
* David and I weren't there, but I guarantee you we both were watching!

2007-09-09T06:14:00.000-05:00

I mowed the yard yesterday, something I have always hated doing for some reason, and afterwards, my physical exhaustion combined perfectly with the fact that it was a good day to watch college football.

I waited patiently while Jody watched America's Next Top Model, and then being the wonderful wife she is, unprompted, she turned it over to Fox for Major League Baseball. I waited a sufficient amount of time to notice that she did this just for me (read: she wasn't watching it at all), then I asked for the remote control. This is when she made the fateful decision to grant me the remote, and from that point on it was college football.

I enjoyed greatly the entirety of the Oregon/Michigan game. The Michigan disaster of a season is simply amazing. Then, I employed my rather impressive remote control skills, flipping skillfully back and forth between several games: Notre Dame/Penn State, South Carolina/Georgia, and Texas/TCU. When these games finished, I moved right into LSU/Virginia Tech and Auburn/South Florida.

I did stop long enough to eat supper and go to the bathroom, but that was about it...

I don't know that it's good to spend the bulk of an entire day watching college football, but it sure felt good yesterday.

2007-09-08T09:24:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was an all-around good day...

Around lunchtime I went to a Habitat house dedication in D'Iberville. In the picture above, you see Trang-Pham Bui (no relation to David) from WLOX interview Lisa about her new house. Fellow board member, Delmar Robinson, emceed the dedication, and he was kind enough to ask me to offer the invocation. In the picture, you see Lisa clutching the Bible and keys that Delmar presented to her during the ceremony.

Afterwards, I met up with Reverend Wayne Ray down at St. John's Episcopal Church to add a picture to my Ocean Springs photo-project. I've wanted to include St. John's. It's the oldest church building in town, and its architecture is simply beautiful. I thought I ended up with a good picture (which you can see HERE). It was extra neat because Wayne is such a wonderful, humble person, and it is always a pleasure to spend time with him.

Next, I picked up Hillary from school, and as is our Friday tradition, we went in search of a treat. We were headed to Caboose Cones, one of our favorites, when Hillary noticed the Tato-Nut Shop was open, so we stopped there instead. Hillary got a chocolate-covered donut, and I had a blueberry cake donut (my favorite!), and we enjoyed some time together. While there, our friend, Hollie, dropped in, too. Hollie is a freshman at South Alabama in Mobile this year, but she works in Ocean Springs on the weekends. It was good to see her and get a hug.

Then, last evening, I went to the Ocean Springs football game by myself. I wasn't by myself for long. I saw some fellow preacher friends from Ocean Springs, several neighbors, and ended up sitting with several friends from my church family. Ocean Springs won 42-0 on a hot, humid night. I was able to take a bunch of pictures, too, from which I'm planning to add one to my Ocean Springs photo-project this morning.

2007-09-07T06:50:00.000-05:00

Well, the Saints game was downright ugly last night, no doubt about it. Saints fans can hope that it was just an eye-opener for the team and will serve as a motivational tool, but I'm not so sure. They were playing the Super Bowl champions on their home turf on the night they celebrated last season's championship, but still, the Saints didn't look anything like their preseason predictions (Sports Illustrated has them winning the Super Bowl this year).

* For one, their defense is the question mark going into the season, and though they looked decent in the first half (scoring their only touchdown), they looked absolutely horrible in the second half. The only thing worse than their run defense was their pass defense. Well, there was one thing worse than both...

* There was the offense, which experts say is their strong suit. They put up three points last night. In a game against an untested Colts defense, they looked absolutely horrible. Reggie Bush had troubles reading blocks all night long, but the biggest disappointment was quarterback, Drew Brees, who had an awful night. While I was doing a little research for my fantasy football drafts, I kept hearing people put Brees in the same class as Peyton Manning, a thought I found rather silly. Brees had some good times in San Diego, then one good season with the Saints last year. He remains a long ways from being mentioned in the same class as Peyton Manning, a fact made obvious last night.

Who knows, maybe the Saints will rebound and go 15 and 1 this year now?

Sure didn't look like it last night...

2007-09-06T06:26:00.000-05:00

As much as I like baseball, I don’t guess I have ever had a favorite minor league player. Until this morning, that is.

My friend, Terry Austin, sent me a link to a diary written by a baseball nobody named Dirk Hayhurst, but after reading his entry, he isn’t a nobody to me. He is a writer, and a noble soul.

It doesn’t matter if you like baseball or not. If you are a human being with a heart, read THIS, and you’ll be better for it.

2007-09-05T06:13:00.000-05:00

I've been receiving the Habitat World magazine for about ten years now, ever since I first became involved with Habitat for Humanity. With postage rates increasing over that time, along with improvements in technology, the magazine has changed its size and appearance, but it still has a circulation of 1.3 million in over 90 countries around the world.

Latan Griffin (one of my fellow board members) and I were contacted a few months ago and asked to meet one of the writers for the magazine and a photographer for an interview/photo shoot, and we had an enjoyable time telling our Katrina story and having lots of pictures made.

I had sort of forgotten about it until I went to the mailbox yesterday and found my quarterly edition of Habitat World inside. It didn't take me long to remember that we "might" be in there, and it turned out we were in a huge article titled, "Going the Distance in the Gulf."

There was a fairly large picture that was good - I had a huge smile on my face while Latan is telling a story demonstratively with his hands, and my church building is faded beautifully in the background. A significant chunk of the story was about us, and it was good - I was only misquoted once (nothing bad, just a quote that should have been attributed to Latan).

I guess for folks who blog, the thought that untold numbers of people all over the world might be looking at your picture and reading your story shouldn't feel weird. But it sort of does anyway!

2007-09-04T06:36:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday yesterday. I'm sure, here at 6:30am, a lot of people aren't enjoying getting up and back into their routine, but at least it will be a short(er) week because of Labor Day.

Ironically, both because it was Labor Day and because preachers reportedly only work one day a week, I put in a full day's work yesterday, capped off by a long meeting with my elders last night. Jody had work of her own to do around the house, Erica is off at college, and Hillary was at a friend's house, so I went to the office and then went visiting at the nursing home and hospital yesterday.

My job is weird in that I have certain things that need to get done each week no matter what, so if I took yesterday off completely, then any hopes of a regular day off at week's end would be out the window.

I'm not complaining at all. In fact, yesterday was nice. Since everyone else was off from work and school and relaxing, it made for a quiet day where I could get a lot done.

But I suspect today will be different. :-)

2007-09-03T07:36:00.000-05:00

I just noticed that I started this blog one year ago today, and I think I've only missed two or three days of blogging over that time period. A lot happens in a year, it seems. Well, a lot happens every single day.

We stayed after our evening devotional last night to say our good-byes to the Stone family. We did it with cookies, brownies, cake and ice cream, which is always a nice way to do pretty much anything.

The Stone family has been very special to the Sturgeon family, and will remain so, of course, even though it came time for the United States Coast Guard to relocate their family to the Tampa/St. Petersburg area. They have had an eventful stay on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, including a hurricane named Katrina, and I hope that their next stop will be a lot calmer than this one.

But we’ve enjoyed immensely the chance to become friends.

Marion and I are practically the same age, and combining that with a similar spiritual outlook and a common love of sports, we have never had a problem finding things to talk about! Marvel has been my secretary, and words cannot describe how wonderful she has been in that role – efficiency, talent, and friendliness all combined in just a perfect way. Amanda even looks like our Hillary’s older sister, and they’ve had lots of fun, ranging from spending the night at our house to hanging out at the church building together on school breaks. And Rebekah – everyone falls in love with Rebekah.

Life on the Mississippi Gulf Coast brings the opportunity to get to know lots and lots of interesting folks through various branches of the United States military (Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard primarily), and for that I am thankful. But this also means it brings lots of opportunities to say good-bye to good friends, and for that I am often sad.

Like today. Thankful, and sad.

And hopeful that the Stone family has a safe move today, and a happy life in their next stop.

2007-09-02T06:28:00.000-05:00

The first day of September was quite a sports day!

* Boston Red Sox rookie, Clay Bucholz, pitched a no-hitter in Fenway Park in only his second big league game ever! He became the first Red Sox rookie ever to pitch a no-hitter, and only the third player in major league history to pitch a no-hitter in either his first or second start.

* In possibly the biggest college football upset of all time, tiny Appalachian State went to the Big House at Ann Arbor and took down the fifth-ranked, University of Michigan, on their home turf! What an exciting game and finish!

* My Cardinals won again to stay within two games of first place, and the unbelievable story of Rick Ankiel just keeps going…

* My Razorbacks won their opening game, and the running back tandem of Darren McFadden and Felix Jones got off to a great start.

* My oldest daughter’s Southern Miss Golden Eagles got off to a great start, too, with a whipping of East Carolina at The Rock in Hattiesburg.

* And in truly the best news of the day, our friends from church, Shannon and Jessica Lawler, delivered their third child yesterday (it’s a girl!). What’s that got to do with sports? Well, Shannon is the biggest Alabama fan I’ve ever met, and his newest addition arrived on the day the Nick Saban era began in Tuscaloosa!

But my family had a pretty neat sports experience of our own last night. We became University of South Alabama Jaguar Volleyball fans last year, late in their season. Not a ton of folks come out for their games, but that fact made it possible for Hillary to meet the players last year, and they were very sweet to her (autographs, touring the locker room, and all). Last night was their home opener, and my wife and I took Hillary over to watch the Lady Jags play Alabama State.

The Lady Jags have six returning players from last year (three impressive hitters in Lauren, Jenna, and Brittany, and three excellent defensive specialists in Shannon, Taylor, and Colleen), and they’ve added eight excellent players this year (highlighted by an awesome hitter/setter tandem from Bulgaria, Hristina and Maria, and a great hitter from Brazil, Juliana). They defeated Alabama State handily, in three straight, to go to two and one so far this season.

After the match, we went down by their locker room to wait for the ladies to come out so Hillary could get autographs from this season’s team. Right after we arrived, the coach came out of the locker room. Several people were milling around, but she looked over at me, and with a big smile came over to shake my hand and introduce herself.

Now at this point, I’m a little embarrassed because I’ve never met her (emailed her once last year to thank her team for how they treated Hillary), and I’m just convinced that she thinks I’m someone else.

But, no. She thanked us for coming and said the girls remembered us from last year! This was especially cool because there was an uncharacteristically large crowd last night, and they both noticed and remembered us!

Coach Keshock turned to Hillary and asked her if she wanted to go back to the locker room and get all the girls autographs. Hillary’s face lit up and she said she did, and Coach took her back to introduce her to the team. (My wife’s favorite part was when Coach told the other older girls hanging around outside the locker room that the team would be right out while she was taking Hillary back there!)

Hillary told us later that when she made it back to the locker room, Coach Nicole introduced her as possibly their biggest fan. She emerged with a poster full of autographs, and more important, another very special memory.

Go Jags!!!!!!!

2007-09-01T08:01:00.000-05:00

#1: Added the pic above to my Ocean Springs photo-project. Pleasant's Open Pit Bar-B-Q, adjacent to Pleasant's Tire Service, is a local legend in Ocean Springs, but I had never eaten there until yesterday's lunch. This has totally been my loss. I'll be back, partly because the food is awesome, and partly because Michael Pleasant and his family owned and operated business is my kind of place.

#2: I also did a photo-shoot in Marshall Park with Melanie Allen, the president of the Historic Ocean Springs Association. I had a wonderful time visiting with her and came up with some great pictures. I'll add one to my project once she emails me some historical information about Marshall Park.

#3: The tragic news story from yesterday seemed even more tragic when we learned that the baby wasn't discovered until 4pm or so Friday afternoon. She had been inside a black SUV in our oppressive Gulf Coast heat all day long. Melanie (referred to above) told me sadly that she had been to that particular bank that morning and believes she was next to the SUV. She wonders why she didn't happen to look in the windows, or hear a baby's cry.

#4: Today is Art Walk in downtown Ocean Springs, and I will go add some pictures today, too.

#5: Tonight is the first home game for the University of South Alabama Jaguar Volleyball team. As fans, my family will head over and watch the game.

#6: Ocean Springs won its opening football game last night against neighbor, St. Martin. The Greyhounds have the top player in the state of Mississippi in wide receiver, D'Andre Brown. Listen to these numbers for a high school receiver: 6'7, 220 pounds, and runs a 4.4. forty. Sheesh!

#7: The Cardinals won last night and pulled back within 2 games of the Cubs. The best part was that my new hero, Rick Ankiel, hit a grand slam!

#8: Hillary's friend, Amanda Stone, spent the night at our house last night. Our friends, the Stones, are moving to the Tampa, Florida, area this Monday. Being in a military area has great benefits (get to be friends with lots of wonderful people) and significant drawbacks (having to say good-bye so often). Hillary wanted Amanda to spend the night one more time before they moved. I can hear them having fun already this morning.

#9: My niece's surgery has been scheduled for Tuesday, September 18, in Memphis. I would appreciate any and all prayers.

#10: College football begins in earnest today!!! There is only one game that looks somewhat interesting today (Tennessee and California), but I'll be interested in my Arkansas Razorbacks opening game. They play the men of Troy (Alabama) first this year instead of the men of Troy (Southern California). I hope the outcome will be reversed this go around. The Darren McFadden watch begins today - the Razorback star is the preseason favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, which would be the first in school history if it happened. That would be cool.

2007-08-31T07:15:00.000-05:00

An unspeakable tragedy occurred within shouting distance of my office yesterday, though I didn’t learn about it until last night. Police aren’t releasing details yet, so I won’t tell the little bit more I know than was reported by the news media this morning.

A father was supposed to take his nine-month-old baby to daycare, a task he didn’t normally do. He forgot the baby was in his vehicle, and drove to work instead. The baby died from the oppressive heat while buckled in a car seat.

It is hard to imagine a greater tragedy.

The first responder fireman is the brother-in-law of one of our friends. The baby went to daycare with the child of one of our friends. The mother works with three of our friends. The father works less than a hundred yards from our church building.

There are no words for occasions like this. Only a deep, dark silence.

2007-08-30T07:09:00.000-05:00

In the initial weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck two years ago, people I think of as God’s Servant-Heroes descended on us from everywhere. Among those heroes of mine was a retired airline pilot from Nashville named Jim Knight.

Jim carries himself as a simple, good-hearted country boy, which immediately endeared him to Gene Logan, one of my elders (and another hero). They became instant buddies, and of all the neat people Gene fell in love with over the course of the next several months, Jim made the short list of favorites.

Somewhere in that crazy post-Katrina world someone told Jim I was a writer, which is quite a stretch. Anyway, Jim does some writing, too, so this initiated a fun conversation. I learned that Jim writes history, which is a big chunk of the way he enjoys retired life. He had a book published on a modern rendering of the story of Bonnie and Clyde, a book he sent me when he made it back home to Nashville.

Jim and I kept up by email along the way, and I was pleased when he jumped in to my ragtag group of young punk bloggers on our Desperate Houseflies blog. Jim wrote under the name Captain MidKnight, and entertained us with some of us historical writings.

After a while, we sort of lost touch, but not too long ago the good Captain reappeared and told me he had sent me a book in the mail. It was “Letters to Anna,” pictured above.

I started reading it on Monday while Hillary was in jazz dance class, and I read an entire third of the book in my first sitting. I couldn’t wait to pick up the story again on Tuesday, and I didn’t go to bed that night until I had finished the book. I enjoyed it that much!

In “Letters to Anna,” Jim tells the story of Burton and Anna Warfield, a distantly related couple who lived through the Civil War. As he tells their story, he masterfully weaves the entire history of the Civil War therein (I think I learned the Civil War better in those two days than in all my old history classes!). Burton spent two of the four war years in various Union prisons, and the correspondence between he and his wife that has miraculously survived are fascinating.

For $12.95 plus shipping, you can go to Amazon.com and get yourself a copy, but I’ve got an even better deal for you. Jim told me he sends out autographed copies himself for $15, which includes shipping.

If you are even the slightest history buff, send me a note and I’ll hook you up with Jim Knight. It will be fifteen bucks well spent.

2007-08-29T06:45:00.000-05:00

Katrina Fatigue. That’s a term I’ve heard, and I have to admit that I don’t begrudge it. I’ve been awfully tired of Katrina, too.

Today is the second anniversary of that fateful day when she became part of our national vocabulary, and I’m afraid those who are tired of hearing about her will have to endure her name in one way or another again today. Yet with each passing year, I suspect the remembrance will slowly begin to fade until only the ones of us affected specifically will notice the date.

The rebuilding is far from over, of course, but so many of us who were involved in the day-to-day efforts of that cause are no longer in it day-to-day. I cannot say that it is time for us to move on because so many would be left behind, but there does come a time when shouting to the world is no longer option number one. And I feel that that time has come.

So I’m not going to write some grand treatise on Katrina today, trying to guilt folks into coming to help, or cranking out old stories for nostalgia sake.

Instead, I was thinking…

At some point, in the post-Katrina mess, I had somewhat of an epiphany. One day, out of nowhere, I suddenly knew exactly my goal in it all. I felt as if I had endured a potentially fatal blow in all areas of my life, and I understood that I had a singular goal that extended to three specific areas of my life. I even preached this goal my first sermon in the year 2006 as a theme for the whole year.

I wanted to be a survivor. I wanted this for my immediate family. I wanted this for my church family. I wanted this for my Habitat for Humanity affiliate family. When the worst was over, I wanted all three of these areas of my life to still be standing.

And today, looking back, they are…

By the grace of God shining through humanity from all walks of life, we have survived.

And today, August 29, 2007, I am most thankful.

2007-08-28T06:48:00.000-05:00

So I’m watching Good Morning America yesterday and have this little epiphany…

The 12-year-old Little League World Series champs from Warner-Robins, Georgia, are on, and the entire cast of GMA is doing the interview. I think it was Elizabeth Vargas who goes all goofy and tries to ask these young boys how they celebrated the victory. In what wasn’t one of her finest interviewing moments, she asks them if they “painted the town red” (and, of course, no 12-year-old kids have ever even heard that phrase). But the deal was that she was making fun of them. She was laughing as she tried to make up for her poor choice of words, wondering how in the world 12-year-olds celebrate.

They replied that they went out to eat and just had fun. She thought this was hilarious.

Now maybe I’m reading too much into this, but it struck me as noteworthy that our collective belief is that 12-year-old kids don’t know how to celebrate. When they get older, of course, they’ll be legally able to get plastered and have all sorts of fun, but at such a young age, the ability to celebrate is beyond them.

How ree-diculous. Kids are probably the only ones who know how to celebrate.

I took my youngest and her friend, Alexis, to their jazz dance class last night. On the way home, they asked me to do something we did a couple of weeks ago in the car – roll down the windows, turn up the bass, and CRANK the music from Radio Disney.

So we did. We thumped down Highway 90 in my stylin’ Saturn Ion, bouncing to songs from High School Musical 2, and with perfect timing, a retro rendition of M.C. Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This” as we pulled into our quiet subdivision. Me and two 10-year-old girls, being cool.

Kids know how to have fun. The rest of us should be learning from them.

2007-08-27T06:14:00.000-05:00

I had to leave for our church's evening devotional when the game went into extra innings, but I enjoyed the finals of the Little League World Series yesterday afternoon nonetheless. Later, I learned that the little fellas from Warner-Robbins, Georgia, defeated their counterparts from Tokyo, Japan, with a dramatic walk-off home run in the bottom of the eight inning. What an unbelievable memory for that young man!

My wife and youngest daughter and I watched the game together (after watching the Cardinals beat the Braves and pull within two games of first place - yippee!!!). Both of my ladies commented that it would be a cool road trip to go to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to watch the Little League World Series one year, and I completely agreed. Of course, Jody wants to go for the multicultural experience. I want to go for baseball. And Hillary requested that the trip be in two years when she's the same age as the boys so she could check them out! :-)

I'm sure the road to Williamsport for these young athletes isn't so pure and innocent, but there's still something about this singular event that carries with it some measure of purity. Little kids from all over the world playing baseball together, and the whole world watching. Something just seems right about that...

2007-08-26T06:02:00.000-05:00

Mother Teresa has long been a life hero of mine.

You may or may not have noticed the story about her in the news this past week, but it is definitely worth noticing (I’m contemplating a thoughtful Hippo post involving it). It turns out she may have been less superhuman than the world had been able to see – maybe a bit more like the rest of us.

My initial response was that I wasn’t sure if I was disappointed or glad to learn this.

But I’m leaning hard toward glad.

You can read about it HERE.

2007-08-25T08:46:00.000-05:00

The picture is of a girl the same age as my youngest daughter. She is a Haitian “restavek,” which in Haitian Creole means “stay with,” but in reality means a child slave.

There are 300,000 restaveks in Haiti, which equals one out of every ten children.

Haiti is the poorest nation in our half of the world, and one of the poorest nations in the world. It is a short-flight from Disney World.

The restavek system has evolved from the mind-numbing poverty. There is no education, or hope, or future for children living in Haiti’s rural areas. Because of this, many families give their children to families who live in the city – to “stay with” (restavek) them. The children work as domestics for these families, and the parents of the kids simply hope that this translates into a chance for the kids to go to school.

But it mostly doesn’t. Instead, they are often abused. And for the girls, most graduate from this school of hard knocks to pursue a career in prostitution.

My wife and I have fallen for a group called Beyond Borders, and we’re planning a trip to Haiti for a week in 2008. You can read about Beyond Borders HERE if you’d like.

Because I’m on their mailing list, they sent me a link to an MSNBC article/video on the restavek system yesterday. I would really love for you to read the article and watch the video – it will do more than the few words I’ve offered. Check it out HERE.

2007-08-24T07:19:00.000-05:00

I love my creative friend, Troy. He was the best basketball player in the history of my high school, but much better than that, I’ve found him to be a spiritual man who loves God so much that he will do ANYTHING for him. I told you a couple of weeks ago that he was launching a new teaching series at his cool church in Fort Lauderdale that he’s calling, “MyNakedPastor.com” (Watch his YouTube video above to see his intro.) Listen to some of what Troy put on his blog as a description of the series:

Why MyNakedPastor.com? To raise the Value of AUTHENTICITY! I don't believe we can ever become who God created us to be, until first we are honest about who we are...It's impossible to get directions to where you want to go if you don't know where you are. We want to create environments where people can be honest about what's going right in their life and what's going wrong... It's really that simple... The website is a way for us to lead out in a life of nakedness (Authenticity)...A camera following me, my family and friends around 24/7 for 5 weeks… We all have a voyeuristic interest, and we are going to leverage that reality to help people take their next step toward God. I've always heard it said, "Our life is the only sermon some people will ever hear." ...The website will allow more people to have access to our life sermon...The things we do right...The things we do wrong...And what we do when what we do is not what we want to do... The title will help us get the attention of a world that is flooded with noise...The GREAT COMMISSION tells us to, "Go into all the world to share the gospel"...And All the World is ONLINE, so that is where we are going... According to Dictionary.com, Naked is defined as 1. Having no covering, especially the usual one; 2. Being without addition, concealment, disguise, or embellishment; 3. Exposed to harm; vulnerable What a great definition for Authenticity...One that we can all understand... Some of the subjects we will be getting naked with during the series each weekend: Conflict...What do you do when you "have a fight" with someone; Insecurity...How do you handle the feeling of "not measuring up"; Anger...Can you control it or does it control you; Emotionally Tired & Stressed...Is there such a thing as "REST.” The Bible has some honest answers, but in order to apply them we have to get naked...Spiritually & Emotionally...

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Thank you for praying for my niece, Jessica. I would solicit your continued prayers, As expected, there will be a very serious surgery in the next couple of weeks. I will let you know more as I know more…

2007-08-23T06:23:00.000-05:00

I have a very special prayer request today: please pray for my niece, Jessica, and my sister and brother-in-law, Sandy and Tommy. Jessica is 24 years old now, but she has faced an awful lot of health problems for a very long time. She has a special doctor's appointment in Memphis this afternoon, and our whole family is very worried about her. For some reason, I don't make a lot of prayer requests of people, but today is different.

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I have two specific "must-read" links for you today.

(1) The first is mainly a "must-read" for sports fans, but others would find it interesting at least. It is on ESPN's website, sent to me by my friend, Shannon. Check it out HERE.

(2) The second is from our Hungry Hippos site (go HERE). Yes, I'll bug you with links from here often, but I really, really think today's post is a very important discussion waiting to happen. My friend, Msmiranda, posted it, and she links to a "letter-to-the-editor-type" question and response from a liberal magazine she reads a lot. The letter is from a Christian and regards caring for the homeless. It is really, really fascinating. And to pique your interest, the response (from a non-religious person) contains a beautiful description of Jesus that includes the f-word (and no, not football this time). I never thought I'd ever be writing those words in a sentence. :-)

2007-08-22T06:48:00.000-05:00

I cannot bring myself to say that Hurricane Dean turned out not to be as bad as expected, though relatively speaking that is true. I know how hateful that would sound to those whose lives have been turned upside down by Dean. My wife and I have taken a particular interest in the nation of Haiti (more about that in the future), and I noticed that four people were killed there when the hurricane passed by earlier this week. The Associated Press writer made a special point that the poorest people suffer the worst in these situations. I’m glad that was noted.

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Speaking of noticing the poor, Larry James stopped by my Hippo blog yesterday and added a nice comment. Larry is a tremendous example of love through his ministry in Dallas, Texas. If you have never visited his eye-opening blog, check it out HERE.

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Speaking of my Hippo blog, my good friend who writes under the pseudonym, Juvenal Urbino (a character in one of his favorite all-time books), posted a thought-provoking article yesterday on romantic love and the lack thereof. Drop by if you get a chance, and feel free to enter the conversation with the Hungry, Hungry Hippos HERE.

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Speaking of slow and cumbersome creatures, I changed out my wife’s car battery yesterday. You’ve no idea how proud I am of myself. No idea.

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Speaking of pride, yesterday was Hillary’s first ballet class of this particular dance season. As the daddy of a daddy’s girl, I can’t describe the feeling of watching her dance. It’s even better because she dances for our friend, Susan, a wonderful, wonderful woman who, in addition to an impressive career as a professional dancer, has a beautiful heart. It is a beautiful thing.

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Speaking of beautiful things, Albert Pujols homered for the 4th straight game yesterday! The Cardinals are sitting behind division leaders Milwaukee and Chicago at only three games out!

2007-08-21T06:46:00.000-05:00

The picture is a bit misleading. I had ribs and shrimp last night at Buffalo's Wild Wings, but six of the eight guys that showed up partook of the establishment's signature course - all you can eat hot wings! Periodically, thanks to my friend Marion, the "guys" from church get together at Buffalo's just to hang out. We eat a lot, talk a lot, and watch a lot of sports on the plethora of televisions spread around Buffalo's. This will be the last time we get to do this with Marion since he just received orders from the United States Coast Guard and will be moving to Clearwater, Florida. We will sure miss him a lot, and I suspect we'll carry on the tradition even after he's gone. I can't wait to get to the Buffalo's Wild Wings in Heaven, though. We'll all have a grand time.

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I made it home last night in time to take part in another live online fantasy football draft, this time in a "carefree" league established by my friend, John Dobbs. It's a "just for fun" league, but since our friend, Danny, is involved, the competitive juices will flow somewhere within. :-) The chat during the online draft was hilarious, and as John pointed out, more fun than the entire season.

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Lots of folks commented on my Hungry Hippos column yesterday. The discussion continues if you want to check in again. Just click HERE.

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On the way back from Buffalo's last night, my wife called to say that her car quit working. Looks like I get to change out a battery today. Given my automotive expertise, this will not be nearly as easy as it would be to everyone else in the world. :-)

2007-08-20T06:22:00.000-05:00

Everyone!

I have a request for all of you!

I’ve had a group blog for a while now called “Desperate Houseflies,” and it has been a lot of fun. Several friends from over the years have been a part of the conversations, and I have learned a lot from it. It is sometimes funny, sometimes controversial, and sometimes deep. It has always been important to me.

But, after two-and-a-half years, it sort of grew to a point where we needed a fresh start, so we’ve converted this group blog to another server, renamed it, and are ready to unveil it today.

I’ve written a special post for today’s grand opening titled, “Can We All Get Along?” And I’m somewhat nervous about it. Nervous because the conversation there is free-flowing, and you might not like what some people have to say from time to time, including me, and nervous because of my kickoff post today.

Yet, given perspective, what I have written is so very important to me.

Here’s my request:

(1) Please go to http://hungryhungryhippos.wordpress.com and read my article

(2) Please add your comment on the website (instead of emailing me personally). You may have to get a free WordPress account to comment, but I’m not sure. If so, just jot down your password somewhere.

(3) Please consider dropping back by regularly (bookmark the site) and become involved in the regular conversations. Once you read my article, you’ll understand why this request is so important to me.

(4) Oh, and one more: then tell all your friends about the Hungry, Hungry Hippos blog, too! The more the merrier.

Thanks for being some of the people that are so important to my life. I hope you enjoy the land of the hippos!

Yours to count on,
Al