Speechless . . .

I don't really even know how to respond to this ad for MSNBC without my head exploding, so I'll just throw it up there for your perusal.




“I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” 
― Thomas Jefferson

Raccoon Mountain, TN Spring Break 2013

Special K, Spelunker

Last view of the Walking Tour before plunging into the Wild Cave Adventure Tour with a guide, Peyton, headlamps, kneepads, helmets, bats, salamanders, and spiders.

Special K scaling the cave wall like a pro.

A glimpse at God's handiwork underground.

Big Al, the game trouper!

Special K in a Waterfall Room

A view of the Chandelier Room from afar.

Special K and Peyton in the "Music Room."

A sigh of relief after 49 Cent Squeeze

Near the end of 4.5 hours under the Mountain

Behold, these are but the outskirts of His ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power, who can understand?  Job 26:14

It is He who made the earth by His power, who established the world by His wisdom, and by His understanding stretched out the heavens.  Jeremiah 10:12

Special thanks to the Bookout Bed and Breakfast in B'ham.  Always a joy to visit.

Tornado coming down Hardy Street on Sunday, Feb 10, 2013

 

Most of the old oak trees in front of USM are gone. In parts of the city, the view of the landscape has been drastically altered.


 
This is a picture of the USM alumni house that sits/sat at the corner of Hardy and 49.

This is how lots of houses we are working on look.

What is left of Westminster Church, one of my favorite buildings in town.

Another shot of housing damage.

Special K with a wheelbarrow full of debris.





In areas of town from Oak Grove through Hattiesburg and into Petal the damage is as bad as you could imagine.  If you are reticent to believe in miracles, you should stand in some of these spots and wonder how not one single person was killed.

A special thanks to CBA, CBF, and other volunteers we have worked with over the last week.  I met and worked with folks from Pennsylvania, Michigan, Alabama, and Arkansas.  There are countless others here in H'burg helping from all over the country.  Thank you for your support and your help.

Special K's 1st Deer; 7 point

Spartan Sprint Perkinstonm MS 2012

Bluebirds 2012

All things bright and beautiful . . .

. . . the Lord God made them all.

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." Nelson Mandela "There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right." Ronald Reagan

Just so you'll know . . .

. . . roughly 850 to 1800 a year survive attempts on their lives.

“A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other.”  Charles Dickens

Never Forget

History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.

Maya Angelou

A Good First Week of First Grade

For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearance, as though they were realities and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are.

                                                                                                     Niccolo Machiavelli

                                                                                                   
 

Warrior Dash 2012 Mississippi

What could be better? A festival type atmosphere with 7,200 of the south’s athletes and thrill seekers; running, lots of mud, barbed wire, more running, steeple chase type walls and crawls, more mud, cargo net climbs both vertical and horizontal, more running and more mud, fire jumps, rope climbs, swimming in muddy creek crossings, pole slides, balance beam runs, more mud and more running, slogging over or under submerged logs in 50 degree water, more mud, tire runs, rope above and below over water crossing, more mud, and finishing it all successfully in 49:14:15.

 Oh yeah - all this along with music, beer, and turkey legs!!! The Warrior Dash in Jackson, Mississippi on Saturday was awesome!


If you ever want to challenge yourself and help raise money for a good cause (St. Jude’s), there are worse ways to spend a Saturday.

e. l. wood (left; 275 of 625 in age 40-49; 2,382 overall)
Superman Kimball (right; 28 of 625 in age 40-49; 273 overall)
*Special Thanks to Bethany & Adam for the socks*

What is Real?

I read The Velveteen Rabbit for the umpteenth time the other day. It has been a favorite of mine since childhood, and now Special K loves to read it too. C. S. Lewis was right: some day we do get old enough to read fairy tales again. Margery Williams’ story is about a stuffed toy bunny who arrives in a young boy’s stocking at Christmas. Over a period of time, the toy bunny embarks on a journey of transformation from merely a synthetic stuffed animal into a real, living, breathing rabbit. This change is brought about through the power of the boy’s transforming love for the Velveteen Rabbit.

It strikes me that the transformation from being a stuffed toy bunny to becoming a real rabbit is not unlike our transformations from broken and fallen creations of God to the new creatures we become through the love of Christ. Or should we say, the new creatures we are becoming through the love of Christ?

One of the paradoxes of Christianity that I constantly overlook surrounds the mystery of our transformation through faith in the love of Christ as an ongoing and never ending process rather than a one time event. Billy Graham has said that “Being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion – it is a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ.” The process of transformation, then, is an ongoing attempt to give up ourselves, to “continue to work out our salvation” as Paul exhorts us in Philippians.

C. S. Lewis observed that “Until (we) have given up (our)selves to Him, (we) will not have a real self.” And while this perpetual process is often uncomfortable, Augustine reminds us that “Salvation is God’s way of making us real people.” Like the protagonist of The Velveteen Rabbit, sometimes it is difficult for us to know when we become Real people of Christ, transformed by his love.

“’What is Real?’ asked the Velveteen Rabbit one day. . . . ‘Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?’”

The Skin Horse, the oldest and the wisest of the playthings in the nursery replied, “‘Real isn’t how you are made. It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.’

‘Does it hurt?’ asked the Rabbit.

‘Sometimes,’ said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. ‘When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.’

‘Does it happen all at once, like being wound up?’ the Rabbit asked, ‘or bit by bit?’

‘It doesn’t happen all at once,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘You become. It takes a long time. . . . Generally, by the time you are Real most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all because once you are Real you can’t become unreal again. It lasts for always.’” (Williams)

May the love of Christ continue to make us Real in a world that longs to become transformed.

If R. Reagan and M. Friedman had a love child, he might be Allen West

There are no easy answers' but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.
Ronald Reagan

A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both.
Milton Friedman

Happy Halloween 2011