Stephen Hawking vrs Dave Ramsey

  It has been a long week already.  Lots of things going on here in the delta, and one of my children (a grown one) in the hospital in Arkansas.  Fortuantely, my wonderful wife is there at the hospital to help him, all I have to do is keep the house together, and get the youngest one to school everyday.  With all that going on I thought I better add this post while I had a few moments… school gets out in an hour.

  Its getting tax time.  We are all gathering together the papers to see how we did.  I’ve been trying out a new accounting method that you will have to try… its great!  I added and figured all the figures the old way, and was not particularly fazed… then I did it this new way.  I added $200 to our income last year!!  Alright!!  So I refigured them, the new way again, and added $500.  I can’t wait to send this discovery to Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman.  Everytime I refigure it, we earn about $300 to $500 to our income from last year.  That’s a truth I can stand in!

  Ok… not really.  Those of you all that know me knew the truth… Danny figuring his taxes in January; that ain’t gonna happen.  April 13 is the early start day.  And, my “new accounting method,”   its bogus too.  Of course you knew that.  Regardless of how you figure your income, its still you income.  Shuffle the cows around the pasture all you want… the herd won’t be any bigger.  If you have 4 kids and three chicken legs… you’ve got a problem, regardless of how you cook it.  Now, there are people who can make your income look bigger on paper, and your debts disappear out of sight with the slight of a calculator.  Those guys do big business in the government accounting offices these days.  Yes the practice is well know, the technical name for it is “cooking the books.”

  That brings me to my subject.  Stephen Hawking has a latest book in which he claims to have removed any need for God in creation.  He says, “because there is a law of gravity, the universe can and will create itself out of nothing.” Now, Hawking is brilliant, and I am not a scientist… but I know better than that.  The statement has two major problems:

1. He says gravity is all you need to bring the universe into existence.  But, excuse me, if you start with gravity… then gravity is already here; therefore you did not start at the beginning.

2. “Gravity” is an accounting of how things relate to one another… you can’t have gravity unless there is a “universe.”  Accounting does not make money exist… neither does gravity create matter.

  I am not a scientist, so I will end this here.  If you want to find a great discussion of Hawking’s book by a fellow who does a science background go to one of my favorite sites, http://tentpegs.patrickmead.net/.  “Cooking the books” is still “cooking the books” even when its done by a brilliant physicist. 

See you next time.

Back Again!! The Spin Doctor Flu

  I hope you have been doing well, and that life is good.  I have been taking a few months away from the blog in order to devote myself to a book I am writing, but now I am back.  I hope this blog is helpful to you.  I hope it entertains, and more I hope it helps you eavesdrop on the work of God’s Spirit in the world.

  Actually, I haven’t been away from the blog at all.  No, in reality I just skipped from October 19 to January 19.  I decided not to observe the last three months of the year and skip them.  It can be done… ask the Samoans.  The only thing I am wondering about with the Samoans is “Why skip a Friday?”… if you are going to skip a day, most of the time, a Monday would have been a lot better choice. Maybe they were just in a hurry to get to Satuday.

  Of course, during the break, the presidential campaign continues.  Its been wild already.  The media continues to “skeet shoot” everyone who challenges Mitt Romney.  I love the voters in Iowa… someone there missed the memo that said, “Attention voters, here are the candidates we are telling you to vote for and here are the ones you are to ignore; repeat vote only for our proclaimed front-runners” signed, “the media.”  Don’t know much about Santoroum, but like the way he did the footwork, talked to folks, and got the vote.  In a day where politics seems a lot about “flash” and “photo ops”  he seems to have gotten his votes the old fashion way.  In related news,   Rick Perry dropped out today, and is throwing his weight behind his dear friend Newt Gingrich ( I suppose he is taking down the anti-Gingrich website),  Stephen Colbert is endorsed by Herman Cain, and Barack Obama just released his first campaign ad… The second week in November (the one after the election) looks better all the time.

   In Iran things continue to escalate… no not the whole nuclear weapons thing; the illegalization of Barbie.  It seems the all out “ban” didn’t work, so now merchants are required to hide Barbie dolls behind the other toys.  One merchant noted that the practice of the day for most retailers… hang the veiled covered dolls in the window (government likes it and nobody’s buying them anyway) and sell the Barbie like hot cakes.  I wonder what an Arab Barbie would be like?  Barak Ken?  What kind of palace would she have? 

   Of course, in serious news, it is looking more and more like the Iranians are about to produce their first nuclear weapon.  Yes, I know, it is unsettling… they lied to us.  What is the world of international politics coming to? 

  I am beginning to wonder if its a new “flu” strain going around.  Evidently, so Italians have contracted it.

Coast Guard: Hello, Costa Concordia, are you all right?  Passengers have phoned relatives and say they are in great danger.

Concordia:  We are good, just a power outage.

Coast Guard:  Is the power outage the reason items are falling on people, everyone is putting on life vests and your captain is bravely leading the way to the life boats?

Concordia: It is just a power outage.

Coast Guard: Is the power outage why your ship is impaled on the rocks and your hull ripped open?

Concordia: It is just a power outage.

Coast Guard:  Concordia, Is it the power outage that is causing your ship to lay on its starboard side?

Concordia: It is just a power outage.

   ***Our prayers go up, and our hearts go out to all those who lost loved ones in the accident.  We also pray for those crew members who served gallantly and worked to prevent there from being even more casualties than there were.

  Of course, a near fatal case of this dreaded flu has been contracted by inmate David Belniak of Tampa, Florida.  It seems David is suing the estate of Ray McWilliams.  Ray McWilliams died in an auto accident.  Belniak is the man who hit him.  Belniak, it has been confirmed, was travelling at about 80 mph, when he rear-ended McWillams, who was sitting at a red light.  The details were verified by six witnesses, the data recorder in McWilliams’ car, and confessed to by Belniak in the original trial.  His time in prison has caused Belniak to reflect and see things differently now.  Somewhere in the solitude of the cell he realized… “It wasn’t my fault at all; it was the guy sitting in my way waiting for the light to change.”  So now Belniak is on a quest to change his image as a reckless driver… and cash in doing it.  The “spin doctor flu” continues to go round.  Watch out for those sneezing your direction.

  There are a lot of amazing things I love about Jesus, one of my favorites is his authenticity.  It comes through the pores of virtually every page in scripture.  On the very first page of the gospels, you find it there.  There were several ancestors the PR people would have encouraged him to gloss over, but he didn’t.  He makes no pretense about being something other than the son of a Nazareth carpenter.  He doesn’t court the rich and powerful to follow him… nor does he turn them away.  How many times in the gospels does he go to heal someone, but first takes them outside the city, away from the crowds.  He heals a crippled man, then quietly slips through the crowd.

   Whatever you do with the life of Jesus, it was no orchestrated PR campaign.  There were no spin doctors, no hype in his work.  John said it best, “We beheld his glory, full of grace and truth.”

Play Ball!! Cardinals, Rangers, and a Few Twists

  Well the World Series starts tonight.  My son is a great Cardinals fan, and I think even he is amazed they are there.  Leave it to the Cardinals just to slide in to the Wild Card on the last day of regular season.  Of course the Rangers were supposed to make it.    All of that is irrelevant now… the first team to 4 wins.

  Here in Greenville it feels like baseball weather… its the first day to turn heat on after the summer hiatus.  Cool weather moved in yesterday, a little drizzling rain that made you wonder if you were in Buffalo, NY.  I can’t imagine its any better in Dallas or St. Louis.  We’ll see.

  Of course, as always, they are wondering about the TV audience.  Gone are the days when half the nation was parked in front of the radio to hear the Yankees and Dodgers.  There’s a lot of competition.  Baseball has to work a little harder now for its audience.   I know what they can do, however, that would certainly get everyone tuned in… “Little League Rules!”

  That’s right, play the World Series by Little League rules.  I don’t mean “Williamsport Little League” rules… I mean the real rules played out on dirt fields all across the country every summer.  Here are just a few…

   1.  The right fielder must have a bunch of buddies harassing him from the right field foul line through out the game.  If he messes up, they get to laugh and point at him.

  2. You get five pitches… then you have to hide your shame and hit it off the tee.

  3.  If you get on base by an overthrow that is considered a hit, and should the fielding  team toss it around like a pinball machine, and you score, that is a home run.

4.  Take down the fence.  Make the centerfielder have to run it down and throw it back in no matter how far it travels.

5.  The right fielder must turn completely around and talk to the aforementioned friends on a regular basis.

6.  The manager must do his job while two to three players every inning are asking, “What inning is it?” and  ”Are we going to get snow cones after the game?”

7.  The catcher is free to comment on the batter’s wardrobe… wears “pink panties” is assured a strike or two. (The batter is allowed to retort…”got them from your drawer.”)  If they would put mics on these guys, it could be interesting.

8.  If you don’t have nine players show up you are allowed to pull in kids from other teams… as long as they are not very good.

9.  From time to time the pitcher must uncork one into the bleachers.

10.  If you get a wild pitch thrown into the bleachers, a foul ball out of play, or even one that got away from the catcher and went through the whole in the bottom of the fence… take it to the concession stand and you can get a free coke.  Have a whole roving band of folks who converge on such balls, biting, throwing elbows, snatching the ball and running for their life… wait that’s the major leagues too.

11.  Have every player’s dad yell pointers from the bleachers.

12.  Have every player’s mom yell grooming, hygene, and wardrobe instructions from the bleachers.  At least once a game, a mother must run out and pull up her son’s pants and refasten his belt.

13.  Make the outfielders run the ball into the infield because you don’t trust them to throw it.

14.  Have the outfielders ignore rule 13, and any “cut-off” man who may be there.  Not matter how far they are from the plate (see rule #4) they must try to throw it all the way… with a trajectory that low flying plans have to dodge.

15.  There must be at least one delay while you wait on a batter to return from the restroom.

16.  Have a real “home field” advantage.  Forget the well manicured grass with the checkerboard pattern  (how do they do that?).  There is nothing like tall grass, a few mudholes, and a mother bird with a nest  to make tracking flyballs more interesting.  On top of that, add an umpire who is a big brother to one of the players, and who has an obvious grudge against the opposing team.

17.  The team in the field must have one bored player on the ground, playing in the dirt at all times.

18.  After the game the winning team must run from the dugout, cheering, excited, and ecstatic to be headed to the concession stand for “team cokes” (paid for by a volunteer parent).  They are to be followed by the losing team… doing the exact same thing.

  That’s just a few of the rule changes I would suggest.  What about you?  Have any suggestions?  (Maybe the home team has to choose, at random, one person from the bleachers to play righ field in the sixth inning.)

  Isn’t it amazing… we wouldn’t dare do that to a game.  Games have rules.  Yet, many are very comfortable to do that with reality, particularly when it comes to religion.  You hear people say things like, “I don’t believe a loving God will condemn anyone.” .  Ask them why and they will tell you how loving God is all through the Bible.  Yes, the same Bible that mentions Hell.  “Jesus I accept, its the church I reject,” others add.  Yet, it’s Jesus who said He would build the church, and purchase it with his blood.  “God knows who loves Him, I don’t see any reason I have to go to worship services.”  Yet, it is that same God who calls his people together to encourage one another and gather around the ritual of the Lord’s Supper.  We might opt for the flannel board Jesus of VBS… one we can move to suit us, then put back in the box when we are done, but don’t do it.  It is the living God who can save.  Take it from Isaiah, man made gods aren’t worth the firewood they are carved from.

 In the end, God is who He is.  We can accept Him or reject Him.  What we don’t get to do is remake Him into an image that is a little more comfortable for us.

God Is Greater Than Our Statistics

  It has been absolutely beautiful in the Mississippi delta these last few days.  The combines harvesting soybeans have given away to the cotton-pickers picking… well, cotton.  Farmers have their eye on the prize.  After eight months of dark to dusk, can ’til can’t labor, they can see that moment on the horizon when that last row will make its way into the picker, and the last bale will head to the gin.  Then it will be a few months of kicking back, putting their feet up, and… working on equipment, land forming, replacing irrigation, negotiating prices, planning what to plant for 2012, borrowing money to plant, paying bills, filling out government paperwork, etc, etc, etc…. 

   For all of us the economic picture still remains pretty dicey.  But, never fear, the government is on top of it all.  Carefully analyzing and measuring every minute move.  Every afternoon you can hear a new statistic or two carefully crafted by The Federal Bureau of Statistics concerning our GDP, unemployed, employed, never employed, factory orders, and “misery index.”  (How would you like to be that guy?  “Hey, Tim… we want you to find out exactly how miserable people are.”) 

  They are good.  For instance, they know there are 13, o92 knives, forks, and spoons in the White House.  (For a family of four?  Does someone have to report it when Obama bends one using it for a screwdriver?).  They know that 24% of us didn’t make our bed this morning… 5% never do.  They know we husbands do 29% of laundry (somewhere)… which is about 30% more than with which most wives are comfortable… only 7% trust their husbands to do the laundry.  Rockers, crooners, and balladeers… 80% sing in the car; which is interestingly close to the number (88%) who use their blinkers.  Huh?  45% believe in ghosts, 49% believe in ESP, and 10% believe in the 10 commandments… (there might be a problem here).   It is reported that 43% of us will be in religious services this week, but I think they must have asked the preachers for that count.  The city with the highest number of TV evangelist… Washington D.C.  The percentage of people who hear God talking to them… 36%.    44% reuse tinfoil, 57% gift paper.  The ever vigilant federal government has determined that 39% have peeked in their host’s bathroom cabinet; and 17% have been caught. 

    Internationally, 20% of the world’s population live in China; 30 % of these Chinese adults live with their parents… 200 million Chinese live on less than a $1 a day.  Finally, thanks to the ever diligent folks in the federal government, you’ll be glad to know you are more likely to be killed by a donkey than a plane crash, by a poison plant rather than poison chemicals, and you are 6 times more likely to be struck by lightning than by a woman… but don’t press your luck.

  Isn’t it nice to know that the government is so diligently seeking keeping tabs on the economoy, the unemployed, our safety, etc….

  Not so fast!!!

  This came to light last month in the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune.  It seems at the Office of Personnel Management they have a problem… have been for at least five years.  It seems this lauded federal agency has seen a 70% rise in th number of federal employess receiving bogus pension checks.  A problem which is in itself problematic.  What’s more?  The reason the checks are bogus?  The recipient is dead!  That’s right.  Not only are they paying retirement pensions to people who are dead… there is enough data on this issue to track the rise and fall of deceased recipients for the past five years.

  Of course other agencies are outraged.  How could they do that?  How inept the bookkeeping.  We need better communication!  You won’t find a problem like that at the Social Security Administration… yes, the ones keeping the books on all that money for our old age.    No way… they cut the benefits to all there deceased pensioners last year; including 14,000 who were still alive!  Okay, I can see how someone misplaced the information that said someone died, hence their pension kept going out, but how do you mistakenly classify someone as dead?   (Don’t you know those folks are reading the fine print in any effort to balance the budget.)

    It can make you a little nervous.  But, before you get too antsy, take heart.  Your parents don’t need an accounting office to take care of their children.  No one had to count when you get in the car just to verify that everyone is there.  If they leave you at church, that is soon recognized and resolved.  Your parents know you… and so does your Heavenly father.   He “knows the numbers of hairs on your head” paints one image.  “Not one sparrow falls without your Father’s knowledge, and you are much more important than they,” Jesus adds.  Perhaps my favorite image, however, comes from Revelation 7.  The angels are poised to pour out God’s fury on the Roman Empire; ready to bring judgement.  “Wait,” comes the cry from God.  “Hold up,” he says, ”while I number all my people… I want to keep a watch over them.”  Later there is a great crowd standing before God.  “Who are they?,” it is asked.  “These are my people, the ones I numbered, not a one was deserted or left behind, I watched over them all and now they all made it through.”  It is quite an image, and quite an assurance of those struggling to keep their head up.

David shares similar sentiment in that psalm which is at one time both the ultimate haunt of all those who live their life outside of God, and the abiding comfort of all those who know him…

    Oh Lord you hve searched me… and you know me.  You know me when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar…. Where can I go from you Spirit?  Where can I go from your presence?  If I go up to the heavens you are there; if a grave be where I make my bed you are there.  If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me.  If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you….”  Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.  (excepts from Psalm 139)

Jury Duty

  The weather is “a-changin’.”  Here in the Delta you can usually tell when the Summer begins to give way to Fall by the rain.  We seem to hit these spells where it comes a shower or thunderstorm everytime you hit a bump on Main Street.  It has been that way.

  There are so many good things to share.  I really appreciate the Irish farmer who told Rihannon to put more clothes on if she were going to use his field for her video.  He seemed nice enough about it.  He said he hopes she “finds a greater God.”  I like that … reminds us that modesty is still a virtue, and calls us to nobler things in God all at the same time.

  Of course football season is going on… whine, cheer, chastise, celebrate… all at the same time.  Good luck with your team.

  I have also had the joy of serving on jury duty since our last post.  Never got to actually sit on a trial jury, but learned something nvertheless… all thanks to juror #8.  I don’t know her name, but she certainly has her share of problems.  When they first asked who all would not be available, she raised her hand.

  “Why can’t you serve,” the judge asked.

   “My employer will be short handed without me,” she responded.

  The judge would have nothing of it.  Then juror #8 raised another problem; she may have to take care of her mother.  (Others had got off to take care of elderly parents).  May? the judge asked.  Yes… she is not sick at the moment, but you never knew.  No go… “Get back with me when you have another excuse” the judge added.  She did… “my daughter is in college”  and “I am having trouble getting around with my legs” she offered after a college student was dismissed and so was a man who could not sit for long periods.  The judge didn’t buy either of them.  They dismissed some of us (extras)… juror #8 was still there.

I have thought about that a lot and wonder if God ever feels like that judge.  She was getting a good laugh at juror #8′s expense, but it must have felt worse on the inside.  The truth is juror #8 had one problem… she didn’t want to do it.  How many of the things God calls us to do and be are passed over because we just don’t want to do that.  We offer all kinds of excuses why we can’t take care of the needy, feed the hungry, console the hurting, and introduce people to the God who loves them, when the truth of the matter is, we really just don’t want to.  Here’s to getting a little better want to in our service to God and others.

Need a Nap?

  The weather is slowly changing.  One by one the dog days of summer are giving in and returning to the truck to hunt another day.  That means its football season (Go Sooners), and hurricane season (sorry not to warn you on the east coast a little earlier). 

  The great excitement around our house is the arrival of another grandbaby.  Our daughter and son-in-law now have a trio of really fine boys.  Mary went to help out while he was being born, and on Friday we got to attend, with the five-year-old, our first ever “Grandparent’s Tea.”  It was a great time, though someone really ought to investigate why it is that although people are getting married later, and having kids later in life… grandparents are getting amazingly younger.

  Of course the baby came with his days and nights mixed up.  That was quite a challenge right from the start.  He woke up consistently through the night, and it was tough to get back into the routine of sleeping in short bursts, even with some additional hands on deck to assist… so they tell me.  Here’s hoping they get their routine together pretty quick, and that the newborn and two-year old will sync their nap times soon.

   It seems getting nap time worked out is more complex than we realize.  Such are the findings of Dr. Monique LeBourgeois, from the University of Colorado at Boulder.  Dr. LeBougeois is a sleep scientist… (I don’t remember that being on any of my “career options” sheets in High School).  In recent years she has been studying children’s naps.  What she has verified is that in addition to your biological clock (day/night… awake/asleep… Sunday nap) there is also the presence of “sleep pressure” ” that builds up in your brain.  The higher the pressure the more you need a nap.  (This is not to be confuse with the parent thinking, “if you don’t take a nap soon my head is going to explode.) During napping the pressure is relieved, and after napping you get a little shot from the adrenaline gland that gets you up and going again.  Its not just that kids need a certain amount of sleep… they cannot stay awake for long periods of time without getting really cranky.

  Wait, it gets even more amazing… small children need more naps because their pressure builds up faster.  The older they get the less “pressure”… ie. the less need for a nap.  So get this… children need naps, and younger children need more naps!  Really!  Also, a mjor struggle for families is the need for children to take naps when there is not sufficient sleep pressure to make them want to.  You are kidding… who would have guessed.  In a correlating study they found out that trees are made of wood and water is wet.

  In actuality this study is very helpful.  It lets adults know that the need for their child to take naps is not a) the delusions of a sleep deprived adult, or b) psychologically masked transferance of the adults own longings for a nap.

  Of course the real mystery… when did we start getting younger?  I don’t remember the day, but I am definitely aware of an endearing relationship developing with a nap.  My sleep pressure seems to build really quick.  I even feel some sympathy with the newborn:  more and more I find myself lying there wide awake in the middle of the night… then needing a nap in the middle of the day.  I guess I should take comfort.  If “adulthood” is the last stage of growth, then I am not so sure I want to be an “adult.”  Anyone too old to enjoy the wonder of a good mud puddle…or a good nap,  might want to reconsider this whole “growing more mature.”

    Of course the real questions are a) How often are you awake? and b) What are you doing with those waking hours?.  Question #1 refers to the ongoing battle to stay awake, engaged, and involved.  Life is not a TV drama or a sitcom where you sit semi-conscience and absorb it.  (Did you hear about the man who made his wife promise that if he ever got in a semi-vegetative state being only kept alive by a machine that she would pull the plug.?  She got up and unplugged the TV.)  Question #2 refers to the path of our life.  Where you wind up depends on the route you travel.  What road are you on today?

    Where does the road you are on end up?  Financially?  In your relationships?  Spiritually?  Will you go to Heaven?  The answer lies in what road you are on!  Are you on a road (a lifestyle) that goes there? 

     I like the writer who pondered if it may be true that God is the only real “child” among us.  Not a child in the sense of wisdom or “childish,” but  a child in the sense of wonder, growth, and fascination with life.  Maybe the reason a child doesn’t want to go to sleep really is that they are afraid they’ll miss something.  Maybe that’s why there will be no need for sleep in Heaven… there will just be too much to enjoy in only one eternity.  Of course, no need for sleep doesn’t mean we won’t be able to sneak a nap in just for fun.  We’ll have to see.

  Remember… the final stage of life is alive and alert (not dead and asleep), so make your plans accordingly.

You Can Judge A Texan By…

  “Election Season” has definitely become a misnomer.  After all, doesn’t “season” imply an “off season?”   It never seems to go away.  The president is now crossing the country on his new 1.1 million dollar R.V., complete with high-tech security details, built in PA system for talking to towns as they drive through, and a entourage of secret service vehicles as well.  (I have heard Burt Reynolds is in a sweet Trans-Am running “jack rabbit” for him.)

  I personally am not much into the election yet, but thanks to the media I am learning all I need to know about the candidates.   According to the press, Michelle Bachman is a psychotic hate monger who has no clue about anything let alone politics, Sarah Palin is yesterday’s news, Mitt Romney is looking for a safe hole to hide from all the political gunfire, Pawlenty is no big deal, and, Ron Paul… who’s he?  In fact, so confident are the pundits, one wonders why we even have elections… the press already knows, and has decided, who should run the country.

  But, just to make things lively, a new cowboy has rode up on the range, and the media’s sights (sites?) instantly shifted his way.  Another brash talking, shoot from the hip, self-confident, no apologies Texan, who seems to wear boots for a reason.  Its Deja-vu all over again.   I don’t much about Rick Perry yet.  I understand he is the son of NW Texas ranchers, an Eagle Scout, a Captain in the Air Force, an A&M yell leader, and once placed live chickens in a fellow dorm residents closet over Christmas break.  He was a cotton farmer… oh, and also the longest serving Governor in Texas history.

  Like I said, I don’t know much about his political views and positions on various issues, but he is obviously considered a serious contendor to win the election.  How do I know this?  The Press!  They are going crazy trying to derail the campaign before it gets started.  I love the CBS article trying to undermine his “swagger.”  It’s going to be interesting.  (Who would have thought that an outspoken rancher full of political savy, a shoot-from-the-hip tongue, and Texas swagger could ever rise to be president?)

  It does bring me to one point.  It is often said, “You can judge a man by the company he keeps,” and I guess there may be some truth to that.  But it is probably more true that you know more about the man by the critics he stirs up.  Who is it that lines up to bad mouth, run down, and other wise black ball a man or woman?  That is a great testament as to what it is for which they stand.  And it will be for you too!

  Next time you have a critic… don’t feel you have to buckle.  Certainly don’t assume that the problem is you.  Listen to their complaint, there might be some truth to learn.  It also might be they simply want to push you into the mold they’ve chosen.  They may be habitual critics who look at any decision, made by anyone, and start naming a thousand things wrong with it… it makes them feel more important.  Your critics might have a point, but they are equally as likely to just have an agenda.  A great rule to remember…. (drum roll please)… “Your critic may be an idiot.”  

  A man once lived who did everything exactly as he should, said everything that needed said and nothing that didn’t, he injured no one, and served hundreds.  He was criticized, villainized, rumored to be in league with Satan, and eventually crucified.

  Don’t run your family, your work, or your own life based upon your critics.

   As far as Rick Perry and the press, the reporters might do well to heed this reminder about messing with Texans at high noon…

    In Alvin, a suburb of Houston, three brothers decided to steal some beer…Sylvester Andre Thompson, his brothers Sylvester Durlentren Thompson, and other brother Sylvester Primitivo Thompson (real names… just go with it)lifted a case each from the Wal Mart cooler and headed out the doors.   Monique Lawless, age 42 saw them, yelling at the clerk to watch her purse she headed after them.  Seeing the car for which they were headed, she ran at an angle that would make the Longhorn’s secondary coach proud.  She got to the car just as they got inside… and hurled herself up on the hood and windshield.  Stomping on the hood and glass.  She jumped off as they started to exit… but reached one last time to pull the door open.  The car pulled her to the pavement and blacked her eyes.  In true “Alamo” fashion, her actions allowed enough time for the police to effectively pursue and capture the brothers (pinning one against a chain link fence with his squad car).    Don’t you know that’s a video they are going to see a few times.

  Her reason for such actions… “I was just tired of all this,” she said.

Ciao Yao

 Here in the delta, the flood waters are all gone taking the gnats, for the most part, with them.  Now we are back to the normal summer fare of heat, drought, and mosquitoes.  There is nothing quite like sitting in your living room watching tv, when suddenly  there are these whirling flashes of lights pulsing through your windows, casting a red strobe effect on the walls as it passes down the street.  We are becoming more truly “Deltians,” however, even the loud “whoosh” booming outside doesn’t alarm us.  Its just the mosquito truck.  (I understand from some of the older generation, they used to look forward to the truck spraying the neighborhood.  When it came they would all run out like it was an ice cream truck, then run behind it in the fog of pesticide.  Yeah… now we know.)

   Our news piece for the day comes from the NBA.  I am not a big basketball fan per say, but college football is in the summer doldrums, Harry Potter is just ok, the whole Rupert Murdoch thing doesn’t interest me, I didn’t follow the Anthony trial, and the possibility of federal budget hiatus is somewhat nauseating.  In fairness, the retirement of Yao Ming is a pretty big deal… 7’6″ big.

  I remember when the Shanghai kid first came to the U.S.  There was talk of how he was going to change the game of basketball.  He was really tall… and he could shoot from beyond 6″.  That was not what shook me up, however.  Towering high above Yao’s ankles with my massive outstretched 5’6″ frame, Yao crushed my world view.  Through the years, and the mass of short jokes, (“For your birthday we wanted to get you something you wouldn’t get for yourself… it was on the top shelf”) I could always console myself.  If it ever got too bad here, there was always that land where everyone was short… China.  Forget human rights violations and religious intolerance… at least they were short.  Yeah… that was pre-Yao thinking.

  Yao came and changed a lot of our impressions of China.  He was pleasant, polite, and even witty at times.  He smiled.  Mostly he played basketball, and didn’t seem to get in the papers for much else.  A rarity of late. One can only imagine how it must have to be in the NBA’s elite class of 7 footers, only to find your shot being blocked by a guy half a foot taller than you.   Thanks Yao.

  Unfortunately, his career was cut short.  He towered above so much, but one thing was bigger than even he.  Standing in his path was mortality.  No matter how many tanks you line up, your own health can block the road like one lonely protester, and bring it all to a close.

  We know that… in our minds, but we forget.  We, of the ride the escalator to the third floor exercise gym heritage, put a lot of effort into a losing proposition.  We eat better, exercise better and try to hold off as long as we can getting older, and getting done.  Yet, it is only pushed back at best, and we never know when the horn will sound signaling the end of our last game. 

  The battle to stay healthy and alive is a battle we all eventually lose.  They are speaking today of all the “intangibles” Yao Ming brought to the basketball court, and how those will live long after his short NBA career.  That can be said about all of life: its the intangible things, the eternal things that matter; things not dependent on the transient physical bodies in which they live.  The things around you that will live forever are worth more than all the world.  Those things aren’t things… they have names.  They have a God in heaven who knows each of those names.  He knows yours too.

   Our bodies are like the grass in the field, and our glorious accomplishments are like the flowers that bloom on the grass.  Eventually, the grass whithers and dies, and then the glories pass away… but the words of the Lord will not fail you, they last forever.

While Ol Man River Rolled…

  Today is the day a lot of folks have been looking too for about 90 days.  According to the word on the street, after 90 days of trying to ramble and run at will, the mighty Mississippi is supposed to be back within its backs.  Sometime this afternoon, the rumor mill has it, the river is supposed to fall below flood stage once more.  Lots of people will get to return to their houses to see the damage.  Animals (deer, snakes, rats, pigs) that have ventured into downtown Greenville will be allowed to return to their homes as well… I am sure we are both happy about that.  Everyone will be talking to FEMA, and remembering the great flood that never was.  Now if we can just do something about these gnats that all left the river bottoms for the higher ground of our back yards.

  This has caused me to pause and consider all that happened behind the scenes while the river captured the foreground of our attention…

1. There were of course the tremendous storms that rocked through.  Having grown up in “tornado alley” its easy to grow a little non-chalant about “tornado warnings.”  It will take awhile for that complacency to set back in.  I keep in my mind this image of a familiy in Smithville, Ms.  In the mist of the sirens they ran to the shelter.  They could barely see the tornado over the giant trees, homes, apartment buildings, and businesses along the two mile stretch that formed their little town.  FIFTEEN MINUTES later they came back out… it was all gone.  That is hard to imagine.  Our prayers are with them all. 

2. Related to #1… for all those people saying “Jesus -yes, church- no.”  I call you to go to any storm ravaged town, and take note of who was and is on the front lines.  In every occasion, its the churches who were there first, best, and are staying the longest to help those in need.  They look like Jesus… I think he is proud.  I love particularly on church that was giving out assistance to anyone who came up and needed the help.  People were there around the clock… at the tent they had set up.  They would have used their church building if it had only survived the storm.

3.  It has turned hot in the delta… I saw a mosquito fanning itself.  How ironic, while we were all worried about a flood, farmers were, and are, battling a severe drought situation.  Be careful out there guys.

4.  The Mavericks finally won it all.  I am sure it was a major thing for a lot of people, but I suspect it was something they personally did for my friend Clyde.

5.  Do you trust anyone involved in Libya or Syria?  I find it tough.

6.  The NHL championship is going on.  Like most everyone, I have no idea whats happening there… its hard to get excited at this point.

7.  Several Republicans announced they are running for president.  See #6.

8.  Manhattanhenge occured.  Twice a year, then the sun lines up with the parallel streets in Manhattan you get this wonderful effect.  (It seems I remember this same kind of thing growing up in Harrah.  Leaving our driveway to go to school, one turned due east.  I guess “10th Street Henge” never caught on.)

There were many more… but one almost slipped by unnoticed.  In fact I am suprised that more people haven’t mentioned it.  We came within the breath of one vote from losing another species off the earth.  It certainly was a creature that had seen its better days.  In fact it is down to one small herd kept in captivity in case future generations want to study it.

 Where are all the eco-defenders?  Where are all tv ads calling upon us to save this creature who has figured so prominentlyin the history of the world?  There were no protests, no band of rabid followers decrying “species-ism” as the governing board took its vote.  It seemed that even in this time of avid “green” movements… the extinction of this one almost went quietly as the group of men gathered to consider whether to wipe out the lone last herd.  

They had been driven off their native lands, they had been hunted relentlessly across the world… there was no poaching, not one law was ever past to protect them.  No commercials ever showed one of them floating on a melting block of ice in the ocean; no one ever called for a ban on clubbing their young.

  Fortunately, or unfortunately, the vote went down this time… they chose to save the last remaining “small pox virus.”  At least conservationist will have another chance on another day.

   The world is a complex place… what is man that he thinks he can run it?  We gladly tell God how it should be done.  We take a short jaunt off our sphere to the little bitty sphere that orbits us, we set up a camp in the space in between… then declare ourselves the lords of our universe.  The Psalmist is right… only the fool hath said in his heart there is no God.

One more photo just for fun. 

How High’s The Water Poppa?

 Fifty four, point five and rising.

 I am a little nervous.  The south has taken a round-house right cross over the last few weeks.  The tornados have made most of the news.  Having lived in Vilonia, Arkansas up until ’07… in two house that stared down the barrell of last weeks tornado, that is the storm I felt most of all (several friends had damage, one lost their home, and many were in the heart of responding to the wreckage).  Of course, a few hours later tornados would land wicked shots to Tusculoosa and surrounding areas, flooding would be in the streets of my wife’s hometown, the levee would give way in Pocohantas, Arkansas, and to our north the U.S. Corp of Engineers had to decide whom to flood… the city of Cairo, Illinois or the Missouri bootheel.

  All the while, here in Greenville we have dodged most all of the really bad stuff… well, at least so far.  The vital statistics… 54.5 feet (current river level),  64.5 feet (the predicted crest on May 17), and 67 feet (the point at which the mighty Mississipi River begins pushing water over the levee and turns main street into a new tributary.)  As of this weekend no one will be allowed to walk on the levee and the casinos on the other side will be closed.  [No one wants a repeat of the incident a few years back when a casino full of people broke loose from the bank and started floating out towards the open river... headed to New Orleans, I guess.]  The levee board is assuring everyone that the levee will hold and we’ll go on like normal… but we’ve got our eyes on them.  If any of them even get close to an insurance agent’s office, the presumption will be they are getting flood insurance and its time we seek higher ground.   We don’t want 2011 to be mentioned in the same breath as 1927 (the worst flood on record), but everyone is thinking about where they would run just the same.  My son thinks we just need to buy a kayak.  His buddy is keeping his PSN game system stored in the attic. 

Downtown Greenville, Ms, April 1927

With all the flooding and fear of flooding, a couple of passages come to mind.  In Isaiah 43, God says “when you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.”  Later in the chapter he descibes himself as the one who makes a path through the mighty waters.  In Psalm 29 we find where the ancient Hebrews used to sing, “The voice of the Lord is over the waters;  the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.”  Then later, “He sits enthroned above the flood, the Lord is King forever.  The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.”

  I don’t like floods… of any kind.  I don’t like physical disasters or fiscal disasters.  I don’t like to see the waters of sickness slowly rise on those I love or watch a whirlwind come from out of nowhere and break apart a family, leaving them to grieve in the ruins.  And, though like the massive water making its way down the river, I know its coming, and eventually death will break through every levee I build against it.  The river awaits us all.

  In light of this I find it interesting, in the verses above, that God does not promise to divert the mighty waters or even lead us on some hidden path around them.  His promise is to lead us “through” them and give us strength… even peace.

  I love this passage from John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress as Christian approaches the river of death…

Now, I further saw, that betwixt them and the gate was a river,
but there was no bridge to go over: the river was very deep. At
the sight, therefore, of this river, the Pilgrims were much
stunned; but the men that went in with them said, “You must go
through, or you cannot come at the gate.”

The Pilgrims then began to inquire if there was no other way to
the gate; to which they answered, “Yes; but there hath not any,
save two, to wit, Enoch and Elijah, been permitted to tread that
path since the foundation of the world, nor shall, until the
last trumpet shall sound.” The Pilgrims then, especially
Christian, began to despond in their minds, and looked this way
and that, but no way could be found by them by which they might
escape the river. Then they asked the men if the waters were all
of a depth. They said: “No”; yet they could not help them in
that case; “For,” said they, “you shall find it deeper or
shallower as you believe in the King of the place.”

They then addressed themselves to the water and, entering,
Christian began to sink, and crying out to his good friend
Hopeful, he said, “I sink in deep waters; the billows go
over my head, all his waves go over me! Selah.”

Then said the other, “Be of good cheer, my brother, I feel the
bottom, and it is good.” Then said Christian, “Ah! my friend,
the sorrows of death hath compassed me about; I shall not see
the land that flows with milk and honey”… .  Hopeful, therefore, here had much ado to keep his brother’s head above water; yea, sometimes he would be quite gone down, and then, ere a while, he would rise up again half dead. Hopeful also would endeavour to comfort him, saying, “Brother, I see the gate, and men standing by to receive us”: but Christian would
answer, “It is you, it is you they wait for; you have been
Hopeful ever since I knew you.” “And so have you,” said he to
Christian. “Ah! brother!” said he, surely if I was right He
would now arise to help me; but for my sins He hath brought me
into the snare, and hath left me.” Then said Hopeful, “My
brother, you have quite forgot the text, where it is said of the
wicked, ‘There are no bands in their death, but their strength
is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they
plagued like other men.’ These troubles and distresses that you
go through in these waters are no sign that God hath forsaken
you; but are sent to try you, whether you will call to mind that
which heretofore you have received of his goodness, and live
upon him in your distresses.”

Then I saw in my dream, that Christian was as in a muse awhile.
To whom also Hopeful added this word, “Be of good cheer, Jesus
Christ maketh thee whole”; and with that Christian brake out
with a loud voice, “Oh, I see him again! and he tells me, ‘When
thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and
through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.’” Then they
both took courage, and the enemy was after that as still as a
stone, until they were gone over. Christian therefore presently
found ground to stand upon, and so it followed that the rest of
the river was but shallow. Thus they got over.

P.S.  One of the great promises of scripture is that the mighty waters of death will one day crest, then become dry groundl; while the river of life is eternal.  The Spirit and the bride say come and drink freely.

A tune for all you Johnny Cash lovers…