I guess all the money in the world could buy access to the greatest concerts and the greatest sporting events, maybe even access to the stars, too. And I suspect access to lots of money could allow one to travel to the most exotic places and witness firsthand the most breathtaking tourist spots on earth.

But I don’t think wealth grants one access to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at children’s hospitals, and I’m convinced the rare folks that make it behind those closed doors come face to face with the most awe-inspiring sights in the universe.

Today, once again, I consider myself one of the luckiest men on the face of the earth.

Shawn & Danielle named their tiny son, Dawson, and he is unbelievable. I think on his birth day he seemed bigger in person than I expected, but today I caught the full force of how tiny he really is. He was born weighing in at 1 lb, 15 oz, but as is normal for preemies, he has lost some of his liquid weight to allow his little body to start putting on muscle. At today’s weighing, he tipped the scales at 1 lb and 12 oz. The next time you pick up a 28oz bottle of water, consider this miracle.

And miracle is what pediatrician/elder/cousin-of-Dawson-twice removed, Dave, is calling him. The doctors confirmed that Danielle really was at 26 weeks when Dawson was born, and Dave says that how good he is doing defies science. He is what the scientific community uses the fancy word “miracle” to describe.

Today was the first day Danielle was to be going back and forth between the hospital and the Ronald McDonald House alone (since both mom and husband have had to go back to work in between hospital stays), so I was glad I picked today to go and visit. I got a tour of the Ronald McDonald House (an amazing place) as well as take Danielle out to lunch at Ruby Tuesday’s (an amazing salad bar). Sandwiched in-between I came face-to-face once again with a miracle.

The pictures don’t come close to communicating the sight. Nor do words. Some things are just too much for us to describe.

This is mystery. Miracle. God.

Byron Smith (aka Chachi) smiles for the camera while his lovely wife, Jessica, looks on. “Chachi” came to our Peak of the Week Class tonight to deliver a presentation on the Gulf Coast Bible Camp, and he did an excellent job. It is always neat to hear someone speak about something for which they have a passion.

It made me remember that night long ago when I was nine years old, and I sat watching an electrical storm in the distance during the cliff devotional at the Crowley’s Ridge Youth Camp. I think we were singing, “Have You Seen Jesus My Lord?”, and even though I’m not much into warm fuzzy feelings, there was something about that moment that made me decide that I would be following God with my life. And, give or take moments here and there along the way, that is what I have tried to do ever since.

I discreetly pulled out my camera after climbing in my car, turned off the flash, and snapped a picture of Carolyn as she went back to her daily work without her knowing. I did not want her to think she was some sort of display, but after our conversation, I also did not want to forget.

I go to Biloxi every couple of weeks to visit my friend, Hezekiah, in the nursing home. Hezekiah is a disabled black man in his late 60s – disabled both mentally and physically – and Hezekiah is a hoot. He spends his days coloring in magazines and listening to his radio, with occasional interruptions for his harmonica and smoking breaks. He generally cheers me up when I visit, and today was no exception. We talked about Christmas approaching, and he renewed his constant desire for a “jew harp.” I have no idea what he is talking about. Oh, I know what a “Jew’s harp” is – actually bought one once upon a time for Hezekiah, but when he saw it he didn’t have a clue what I had given him. So who knows… In addition, he’s interested in a football this year, too. One he could kick. The nurses will love that…

I also visited with Mr. Flowers on the way in and on the way out. He cheers me up, too. He also sits in a wheelchair, but he has a lot more going on upstairs than Hezekiah. He always wants me to say a prayer for him, something I’m glad to do. Today was no exception.

When I made it back to my car today, there was a lady working hard in the nursing home yard, picking up trash, and piling up pinecones. As is normal for me, I said something to catch her attention – “You’ve got a never-ending job, don’t you?” I said as I began to step into my car. She responded as I put one foot in, and this unleashed a 20-minute conversation in that position.

I learned a lot about Carolyn while I stood there, and I’m glad I did. She walks around with her body a bit hunched and noticeably leaning to one side. This was explained when she informed me that her ex-husband had taken out a lot of life insurance on her and then threw her out of a moving pickup truck. She lost one of her ears on the fall.

But she thanks God that she’s alive today.

Carolyn has five children, all adults now. They come and visit her every now and then at the nursing home, and she loves them dearly. If she could have one wish, she told me she’d live somewhere where she could see them every day.

But she thanks God that she was able to raise them.

Carolyn spends her days picking up trash and pinecones from the front yard of the nursing home. It is a never-ending job, but it is one she takes pride in. Her bedroom window faces this yard, and though Atkinson Road is a popular road for litter it seems, and although the trees continually shed themselves in this yard, it makes her feel so good to be able to clean it up enough to look out each morning and see it looking clean.

She thanks God that her health is such that she can spend her day picking up the trash.

And what was it again that I have to complain about?

I told Carolyn not to work too hard, and she told me she wouldn’t. She was about to take a break for a while, but when I left she took her bucket and went after a few more pieces of trash before sitting for a spell.

Carolyn is quite the metaphor for life I believe. All of us damaged creatures get up to face the world as seen through our bedroom window every morning. And if we could just have the blessing of being able to pick up the trash we see cluttering up our part of the world, and if we could just have enough breath and life to make it through that day, and if we have been able to touch a few lives along the way…

Then we have a lot to be thankful for.

I’m a huge Lemony Snicket fan. There, I said it.

It is strange to find oneself addicted to reading a set of children’s books that relate a series of unfortunate events as experienced by three unlucky children, but it has become the truth. I just can’t quit reading them. They are the crack-cocaine of children’s literature, and I’m finding myself becoming a dealer.

I made a special trip to the public library today to turn in the 7th book in the series, “The Vile Village,” and of course I had to check out the 8th book, “The Hostile Hospital,” while I was there. I’m on a roll.

If I remember correctly, my wife placed the first book – “The Bad Beginning” – in my Christmas stocking last year. I don’t remember why I had the original interest in reading Lemony Snicket’s work, but after the first book I know I was interested in reading the second. And then the third. And so on.

I found myself in a bit of a contest with my Hillary’s best buddy, Connor, a contest I have been losing for a long time now. Snicket published the 13th (and final) story around Halloween, and I know Connor has been reading on that one. I’m only five books behind!

Hillary has found herself attached to the books, too. She just finished (as I was typing) the 5th book (“The Austere Academy” for those of you scoring at home), so she might end up passing me as well. Getting whipped by a pair of fourth graders. Oh well. Anything to get kids reading, right?

The stories are entertaining, but it is Snicket’s writing style that has me hooked. He is downright hilarious, while at the same time creatively teaching kids the world of vocabulary (who am I kidding – did any of you adults know what ersatz meant? Me neither…). The fact that he tells very depressing stories are really beside the point – that is just his niche for bringing us into his world, teaching us the wonders of language, and making us laugh.

Okay, I’ve got to quit blogging. I have some reading to do.

It was quite a morning around the Ocean Springs Church of Christ, let me tell you…

It all began for me last night. We started using PowerPoint slides in our worship assembly a few months back, and our main slide guru called me around 9pm to inform me that he wouldn’t be here this morning. Our backup slide guy is an elder/pediatrician who happened to be on call this morning. Our backup to the backup is our other elder, who is in Little Rock for Thanksgiving. The hits just keep coming, huh?

Well, the elder/pediatrician-on-call was there to run things this morning, while I crossed my fingers that he wouldn’t be called to the hospital.

Then Miranda called ten minutes before worship began to tell me that her friend, Matt, wanted to be baptized this morning! This was great news, of course, but this would be our first baptism where we have to raise the projection screen and everything that comes along with that – so we scrambled to make sure we were ready for that…

It was at this point – two minutes past time to start our service – that I noticed that our deacon in charge of making sure people showed up to play their parts in the service did not show up for church today himself, and that about half of the folks who said they would serve didn’t show up either.

Sigh…

But we started anyway, and everything went just fine (with the only exception being that the baptistery water was FREEZING cold, even though we installed a heater, but the man who installed the heater is the main slideshow guru guy, who was in Alabama).

Sigh again…

We had one other complication to work out at the end of the service. Pam, one of our friends/church family members, is moving to Dallas after about seven years living here. Pam has been through a lot in her life in those years, and today is her last Sunday with us before moving back close to her family. We are going to miss her a lot, and we hoped to make her farewell appropriate this morning.

When things like this occur, we have one of our elders pray over the individual along with giving a Scripture plate (from Mississippi Mud Works, pictured with Pam above). Of course, today, one of our elders was in Little Rock while the other was operating the slideshow while holding his beeper. Our plan was for he and I to switch out in the A/V booth during the last song, but thankfully, Keith stepped up to the plate and volunteered to finish out the service in the slideshow seat.

Worship is supposed to invigorate you, right?

But I’m exhausted.

My Sunday has been good, but I hope yours was good AND smooth.

Whaddaya think about this sweet ride? This is why all of you should follow my example and become a Saturn customer, too!

No, it’s not mine, but I did get to ride around Baton Rouge in this sweet Saturn Sky with my friend, Roland, this morning. My family owns three Saturn vehicles (thanks to our friendship with Roland), and today was a convenient day for my (pretty much) once a year run to Baton Rouge to have the ION I drive looked over from top to bottom.

When my family moved to Ocean Springs in early 1999, we had the honor of meeting Roland. My youngest daughter, Hillary, was without a doubt a daddy’s girl at the time (and still is, thank you very much!), and Roland was one of two men (along with Mr. Tandy) that she would even give the time of day to back then. We’ve all been Mr. Roland fans ever since, even though his move to Baton Rouge landed him 150 miles away.

The first time finances permitted us to even think about buying a new car we called Roland, and he took great pleasure in hooking us up with a Saturn. It’s not just us, though: I’ve never seen anyone enjoy making other people happy as much as Roland. And over the years, he’s made us happy on lots of occasions. (In addition to automobile matters and a great friendship, I’ve even enjoyed some LSU/Arkansas tickets, too!)

Not many people can say they look forward to the day they “get to” take their car in to the car dealership’s service department, but that’s completely the way I feel when I get to make the trip over to Baton Rouge. This morning, Roland took me for a spin in the new Saturn Sky, then we spent the morning talking as the friends we are, then finished the morning off with a Chick-Fil-A lunch.

Roland makes me feel important. I hope I’m not completely selfish in the relationship, though, because he is awfully important to my entire family.

It’s been a great day for me, even if you didn’t factor in the breathtaking weather.

‘Twas the day after Thanksgiving, so it is time to decorate the Christmas tree around our house. I’m not real useful on days like this, unless that is, something needs to be done that my girls can’t reach! But my wife & daughters enjoy doing this together – add in the “Holly” station on satellite radio and you’d just almost think it was snowing in South Mississippi.

No early morning shoppers from my family this morning. I did watch a lot of sports today, though, even though the Razorback football team was disappointing from my perspective. But it was a good game nonetheless. And although it wasn’t nearly as significant, I did watch the Razorback basketball team win a pretty impressive game today.

The best part of the day, however, was the fact that Grandmother and Poppee made it to our house today. They will be here all weekend, which is always a good thing for us.

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!!!

I have much to be thankful for, but today I was particularly thankful for a certain house.

Tandy & Peggy have acted the part of parents to my wife and I (along with many others) since our folks live 500 miles away. On many an occasion, we’ve had the pleasure of sharing special times in their home. Which was one of the many reasons Katrina was so tragic.

When I wrote my Katrina journal, I wrote of Tandy and Peggy, specifically dreaming of a time when we would enjoy a special day in their home again.

That day I dreamed about was today.

We’ve shared Thanksgiving with the Shaws before, and on every occasion, Peggy has worked hard to get extra people there who would appreciate having somewhere to be for that special day. This year she went even further, issuing a special invitation insert in our church bulletin.

Eighteen people shared a wonderful dinner, fun conversation, and a little football today.

I, for one, enjoyed seeing a resurrected house, too.

There’s something extra special to be thankful for now…

I spoke with Danielle on the telephone yesterday, mentioning that today would be the 26-week mark of her pregnancy. We kept hoping that the baby would hold off and keep growing in her tummy for several weeks to come.

But a couple of hours after I hung up, the contractions started.

It was a long night for Shawn & Danielle (and Danielle’s mom, Angie, pictured above), and this morning it became evident that it was time for the baby to come. And he did. And everyone is doing fine.

(Collective sigh of relief…)

The baby doesn’t have a name yet, but he represents hope for all of us who have been involved with this little fella. He weighed in at a whopping 1 lb & 15oz, but his little body is proportioned just right & has everything a full-term baby is supposed to have. I had the honor of seeing him, and I heard his little crying voice, watched him open and close his eyes, and saw him flailing his little bitty arms and legs around.

Simply amazing.

There’s a long road ahead for the little guy, of course. I thank God for Ronald McDonald Houses (one is next door), which will allow Danielle to stay close by over the next three months for the baby to grow and grow and grow. As with all babies, there are always things to worry about, but they are in a good place, and as of the baby’s birthday (today!), all seems well.

There’s something special to be thankful for this year.

When Erica made it in for Thanksgiving break this afternoon, I was able to take a picture of two of my biggest reasons ever for being thankful – my daughters…