Cole & Alison have to be about the neatest young couple around. They were childhood sweethearts, went to college together (Go Mississippi State!), became engineers together, and found great jobs together. Our church is lucky to have them around – just because of them of course, but also for the examples they are to everyone. Not every group has a first class, mature, responsible, and talented couple like that around…

We’re fortunate to have a really good (and active) young adult group at church. It used to be my responsibility to try to plan a young adult party every month, and although we had some great times, it drove me nuts trying to find something each month that (a) everyone would want to do, and (b) everyone could attend. But eventually, I had a great idea (caution: self-congratulations alert!): I asked twelve different young adult families to pick a month of the year and be in charge of planning something that month. We’re about six or seven months into it, and it has worked great so far!

September was Cole & Alison’s month to plan a party, and today was the day they arranged for us to go bowling (by the way, in case their parents stumble across this blog, those aren’t their cigarettes in the picture!). We had thirteen adults bowling, along with five kids with the bumper lanes, and several cheerleaders on the sidelines. It was a lot of fun, and a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

I bowled 105, 141, and 115 thank you very much (I know I suck, you don’t have to tell me). Matt rolled the game of the day with a 197, though crowd favorite, Tandy (former professional bowler, and now an honorary young adult in his 60s), drew the most cheers. Herman, without a doubt, bowled with the greatest power, and Tom won every game rolled on our lane. My wife bowled her first strike ever, and my daughter rolled an 87 (of which she is VERY proud).

The weather is great, the Cardinals won, and I had a fun afternoon bowling with some great friends from church. What a great day…

“In our first meeting John asked what my expectations were. I didn’t have any. I had never done this before and didn’t know what to expect. I only knew I wanted to explore the personal dimensions of faith and prayer with a guide instead of working by trial and error as I had been.” – Eugene Peterson, Working the Angles

Peterson’s quote applies to my lunch today.

Bruno turned 71 yesterday. He is a retired UCC (United Church of Christ) pastor who lives in Ocean Springs. He spent the bulk of his ministry years as the director of the Back Bay Mission in Biloxi, a ministry that reaches out to the poor. This, Bruno discovered, was his niche.

I’ve admired Bruno for quite some time now. Many people are defined by one word, and the word that comes to mind when I think of Bruno is “gracious.” Not a bad word to define your life if you ask me.

I still remember the first time I met him. We were at a meeting of religious leaders, hosted by the mayor of our city. We went around the room to introduce ourselves, and Bruno identified himself as a retired United Church of Christ pastor. Since it was his first time to attend that meeting, he went on to explain that this was different from the group popularly known as “Church of Christ,” though the two are often confused. When my turn came, I introduced myself as the preacher at the Church of Christ and explained to Bruno that there was absolutely nothing “united” about us!!!

Bruno is a gentleman in the true sense of the word, and when he made a point to track me down once and tell me that I was different than what he expected – and that this was a good thing – I took it as the compliment it was intended to be.

Some time back, I had the idea of asking Bruno if I could sit down with him on a regular basis and just talk – partly to learn from his years preaching good news to the poor, but mostly just to learn from him. He graciously (there’s that word again!) agreed.

So today was day number one. We’re planning to get together at lunch on Fridays when our schedules permit. To just sit and talk. To become closer friends. I am unbelievably excited at the opportunity, and Bruno simply added to my excitement by mentioning that we might have some of these conversations on his sailboat from time to time. I have never been sailing, but I have wanted to for a long time now.

I wish every day was a “change your life” sort of day. I’m funny that way. I have this sneaky suspicion that I’ll look back sometime down the road and see that today actually was one of them.

When you finish reading this entry, you have to read an article about former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General (retired) John Shalikashvili. which I’ll link below.

A few years ago now, I set out to write my first real book. Jim McVeay is a member of our church family, and he has some amazing stories. He is reportedly the most decorated soldier in Mississippi (following two adventurous tours in Vietnam), and nearly two decades after his exit from Vietnam, he began having the nightmares. Jim asked me to write his story in an effort to face his post-traumatic stress disorder, and it was my honor spending Thursday afternoons with him for nearly a year listening to stories, some of which he had never told another soul.

Along the way, Jim told a story about the time he met Shalikashvili. Jim was his TAC officer at Officer Candidate School, and when Jim demanded the candidate’s name, he was sure he could never remember it. So he called him, “Candidate Alphabet,” for the rest of his time.

When it came time to try to put the book together, I tracked down an email address for the famous military officer, and I asked him if he remembered Jim McVeay. I was shocked when he sent me a reply! He told me that he was so freaked out by Zero Week back in 1959 that he tried to quit the first night! He left the barracks in search of Jim McVeay – or any TAC officer – to inform whoever that military life was not for him. But he couldn’t find anyone. So he went back to bed, then the next morning, was awakened and screamed at and kept busy that he didn’t have time to think of quitting again. He told me that he was so thankful Jim kept himself hidden that night; if not, he might have ended up selling shoes in Peoria instead of serving his country in uniform.

After retiring from a legendary military career (and after writing me), “Shali” (as he’s affectionately known) had a stroke. While he was in the hospital, he wrote the speech he delivered a few days later on John Kerry’s behalf at the Democratic National Convention. Later, he had a severe stroke. And now, he struggles to recover basic bodily functions.

I didn’t know about the stroke(s) when I tried to email him yesterday. I ran across an old copy of my book, “The Fighting Never Stops,” which both Jim McVeay and I had autographed to send to General Shalikashvili. I did a little search and found an email address for him through Stanford University, so I sent him a note requesting his mailing address. Last evening, I received a reply from his son, Brant, with a nice note and the address.

Today, I went to Wal-Mart to buy an envelope and dropped by the post office to mail him the book. Then, I read the article from Seattle I’m about to link you to, and I was humbled to read of the strokes – and his fight to recover – and his son, Brant, at his father’s side for it all…

It humbles me to think that I’m (a) sending a copy of a book intended to inspire people to fight, (b) to the nation’s (former) highest military officer, and (c) who is fighting to simply be able to read on his own right now.

Today, I’m thinking of General John Shalikashvili: an American hero, a class act, and a warrior.

(Read the article here.)

(If interested, order my book here.)

What a circus in Dallas today after the controversial football player, Terrell Owens (popularly known as “T.O.”), reportedly attempted to take his own life. Owens denied the report this afternoon.

T.O. rose to football stardom as a San Francisco 49er, but his controversial time as a Philadelphia Eagle elevated his career (and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus’s career) to rock-star status. His little pre-Monday Night Football towel-dropping commercial with Desperate Houseflies star, Nicollette Sheridan, just made him more popular – and controversial – than ever.

When he signed with his former nemesis, the Dallas Cowboys, it was understood that there would be a lot of T.O. to be seen this year. Owens had a decent game at Jacksonville in Week 1, and then was greeted with great enthusiasm in his home opener against Washington in Week 2. He broke his finger in the first quarter (which explained his less-than-stellar game), but he didn’t tell anyone until the 4th quarter. Afterwards, he underwent surgery to repair the fracture.

On my way to work this morning, I listened to ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike relay reports out of Dallas that T.O. had a bad reaction to pain medication and had to be rushed to the hospital last night. Greenie theorized that he would recover quickly, possibly even playing this weekend, while Golic wondered if the reaction might deplete his energy enough to make playing a football game on Sunday difficult. But after the police report hit the media, there were suddenly a whole new set of questions.

The report claimed that when emergency personnel reached Owens, the bottle that held his pain medication was empty, and he reportedly tried to take two more pills after they arrived. When asked if he had tried to hurt himself, the normally loquacious Owens replied with one word: “Yes.”

At his press conference this afternoon, T.O. explained that his publicist panicked when she saw his empty medication bottle and found him to be unresponsive, but the truth of the matter was that he had (a) separated some pills (leaving a bottle empty), (b) been groggy from taking the pain medication, and (c) no recollection of saying the things police reported he had said.

Owens said he plans to play football this Sunday.

The initial reports got me to thinking: I, for one, have to remind myself from time to time that the larger-than-life entertainers in our world are not, in fact, larger than life. In my moments of clarity, I feel sorry for the controversial figures that don our tabloids. Their lives must often be hell, in spite of the beauty in which we try to paint their pictures.

Owens denies that, of course. He says he’s happy. I’m not saying he isn’t, but reports like today’s remind me that what we see isn’t always real. Or often even close.

In addition to all his other cover images, Terrell Owens may very well become the poster child for this dark truth as well.

My parents always rented. I, on the other hand, have become a homeowner on four different occasions since becoming an adult. People say that’s the American dream, but having someone else fix a leaky roof sounds a little dreamy to me sometimes. With the combination of Hurricane Katrina and the grace of God however, we truly believe the fourth time’s the charm for us. We absolutely love our house, and we absolutely love our neighborhood.

Tonight was neighborhood meeting night. Until tonight, I have never attended a meeting of homeowners. It was interesting, to say the least.

Around sixty people met at a local restaurant, representing approximately forty of the one hundred and three homes in our subdivision. I knew Jennifer, who initiated tonight’s meeting, and she did an admirable job considering where all it went. We do not have a homeowner’s association; in fact, forming one seemed to have been the purpose of tonight’s meeting. Instead, it turned out to be an opportunity for lots of griping, along with the occasional soapbox.

I sat with Al and Marie, new neighbors who have recently relocated from New Orleans. Neither of us had received the neighborhood covenant, though we picked up a copy tonight. I really enjoyed the opportunity to get to visit with them and get to know them a little better. After the meeting, we had the chance to visit with Dennis, a mutual neighbor, which was nice, too. Dennis has been in the neighborhood a long time, and he was very helpful in answering a bunch of questions from us new kids on the block.

In spite of the complaint session, it seems we’re going to start a neighborhood association anyway, and from its inauspicious start tonight, it ought to be an interesting (and volatile) organization. I plan to jump in with both feet (I live for controversy!). Seriously, I look forward to whatever it takes to bring people together, especially my very own neighborhood.

I guess I’m an old fogy in certain ways, and longing for days gone by where neighbors knew each other by name, shared the occasional cup of sugar, and was the first on the scene to cry over tragedy and rejoice over triumphs seems beautiful to me. I’d love to see it happen on my street. In fact, my wife and I have this great idea we’re going to try at Christmastime. We plan to host a little drop-in street party for the eleven houses on our street, complete with Christmas cookies and Christmas music and all that holiday cheer!

But refereeing fights in a homeowner’s association might work, too.

Christmas cookies taste better, but whatever works…

(The Superdome last December on my 1st visit after Katrina)

I’ve been engaged in a fierce debate for quite some time now, and it reached its zenith today. I wish I could tell you it was over some vital theological concept, or at least some political issue; instead, it was whether I would try to go to a football game tonight or not.

It was a foregone conclusion that I would go to the reopening of the Superdome tonight (Saints versus Falcons) when the idea first arose a few months ago now. I had always wanted to attend a Monday Night Football game, not to mention the fact that the very idea of being there when the Superdome took the center stage of the world once more would be a very cool thing to do. Add to that the fact that the city of New Orleans believes their #1 draft pick, Reggie Bush, is the savior of the Big Easy, and that tonight will be his home debut… well, it was obvious that this would be a very special game.

But a few factors complicated things for me…

* My wife surprised me with the Father’s Day gift of all Father’s Day gifts: tickets to a Monday Night Football game in Texas Stadium in October (which made the Saints game a little less “necessary” in my little sports mind)

* The Saints sold out their entire season through season tickets (which made purchasing a ticket a bit pricey (over $100 bucks a few weeks back at stubhub.com - recently climbing to well over $200 a ticket)

* I took two very tiring trips this past week, and I am really, really tired (and the trip would get me back home around 2am)

Still, the debate wasn’t over until about thirty minutes ago. In fact, I dressed today ready for a football game just in case that side won, and I filled up my car with gas and checked the weather for New Orleans and all sorts of other things just in case…

On the “go” side, there’s this part of me that lives for experiences. Tonight in New Orleans qualifies as one of those “once in a lifetime” things, if anything does, and it is hard for me to pass that up. I also found out last week that U2 and Greenday would be in concert before the game tonight, and seeing Bono in person would be quite unforgettable. And, both the Saints and the Falcons are undefeated, so it just might be a really good football game, too!

On the “don’t go” side, there’s the fact that my eyelids are already heavy this afternoon, and not getting home until 2am or so with the alarm set at 5:30am tomorrow would be the least bit stupid. And, there’s the fact that I don’t have a ticket, and though I have no doubt I can find someone that will sell me one on the street corner (along with a plasma television set), the amount of money that might cost could pose a problem. And, I could go to jail for buying it. There’s that.

But I just couldn’t decide all day long. For reasons I won’t bore you with, my critical decision time was set at 3:50pm. I had to decide then. At 3:47pm, I still was completely torn.

So I asked my 9-year-old daughter… She has “Open House” at her school tonight, and I asked her opinion. She said, “I’d like for you to go to Open House, but then again, I know you want to go to the football game, too.”

That was enough to tip me over the edge.

When I think of it, her 4th grade Open House is “once in a lifetime,” too… Plus, she’s more talented than Bono and Reggie Bush put together anyway…

After Bible classes this morning, we enjoyed a tasty church fellowship meal to honor the ladies of the “bear ministry.” For over ten years now, these ladies have come together every Thursday evening to make cute little teddy bears that are given to children in our local hospital. In particular, the meal was to commemorate their 10,000th bear! Dana, a nurse at the Ocean Springs Hospital, came to tell everyone how much the bears mean to the children.

This morning, I sort of got to take a break! Travis, one of our top hurricane relief friends, asked for the opportunity to preach this morning, and I happily agreed to give him the experience. He did an absolutely great job. Travis is an amazing young man. In addition to being a talented young preacher who is majoring in Bible at Freed-Hardeman University, this guy, in his early 20s, is talented in every single phase of the house-building process (he has hung sheetrock, floated it, done trim work, and roofed houses for our relief efforts). He is also a firefighter. And, I found out yesterday, he can absolutely crush a golf ball! Travis is one of those people that I can think of that makes Hurricane Katrina a positive experience for me.

I’m watching the Cardinals play the Astros on ESPN right now in the final game of their four game series. This, of course, is a very bad way to end an overall good day.

It’s late.

We all had a great time on the way home today. We stopped at Gray’s Plantation on the Audubon Golf Trail in Lake Charles, Louisiana. It is a course WAY too nice for me to be allowed on it, but they took my money anyway. I shot a 114, which isn’t bad for me in the first place, especially on a course this nice (and difficult). We had a lot of fun.

The best part of the day, however, came during dinner at the Texas Roadhouse in Lake Charles. There we saw the unbelievable ending of the Arkansas/Alabama football game!!! Go Hogs!!!

No, the best part of the day was actually hanging out with some cool friends and talking about just about everything. Really good stuff…

Got to get some sleep. Good night!

A picture up close and personal with David Eckstein tonight at Minute Maid Park…

Eckstein made his return to the starting lineup by leading off with a home run to the Crawford boxes in left field. It was the first of four home runs in the game. Eckstein had a great night in an exciting game, but the Astros came back to win it in the bottom of the ninth on Craig Biggio’s walk-off single. Even though I’m a Cardinals fan, I had to applaud a great game and a great performance by a class act like Biggio. It was his night (I’m sure I’ll be hearing the chant – “Bee – Gee – Oh” – in my sleep tonight!).

Thirteen guys from church made the trip to Houston today, and it has been perfect. Good weather, no traffic problems, a great hotel, first class guys, and an exciting game. What more can you ask for?

I was “fed at the Shed” for lunch today. “The Shed” is quickly becoming a local legend on the Gulf Coast. When my wife and I moved to South Mississippi, we were amazed by the wonderful seafood, but we complained a bit on the side at the lack of good barbecue places. “The Shed” was our first saving grace (though since then we’ve found a few other places we really like, too).

I ate lunch there at the request of Veto, a reporter from The Mississippi Press, who wanted to interview me for an article he’s putting together on the use of the Internet in ministry. Who would’ve thunk that what you’re reading now is newsworthy?!?! We had a great discussion about the topic, along with religion in general. We also had some great barbecue (a pork sandwich, tater salad, and baked beans for me!).

When Veto called, since we’ve never met, he thought he’d better tell me how to spot him. “I look Amish,” he said. I replied with, “Well, I’m tall, skinny, and balding.” We had absolutely no trouble picking each other out of the crowd.

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Tonight I had the pleasure of attending a surprise 30th birthday party for my friend, Herman. We’ve become really good friends (I caught myself after Hurricane Katrina introducing him to folks that descended on our church as my “best” friend, a term I haven’t used like that in a long time). I’ve had the pleasure of baptizing Herman, officiating his wedding, and most importantly, going to the Final Four in the Superdome with him (just kidding about the “most importantly” part!!!). So it was great to be able to be a part of his surprise party tonight. Lots of our friends from church were there, and Samantha (Herman’s wife) did a great job putting together a wonderful party and slideshow of Herman’s life!

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I’ve blogged every day since I began “Minutes to Memories,” but tomorrow is iffy. Fourteen men from church are headed to Houston tomorrow to watch the Cardinals play the Astros at Minute Maid Park. I’m not sure if my hotel room will have a wireless connection, and even if it does, I haven’t decided for sure if I’m going to bother with bringing my laptop. We’ll see.

But if I don’t post tomorrow night, I’m sure I’ll be back at it on Saturday.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!