I am always impressed by Hillary, but sometimes – like today – I’m fairly convinced that we cannot be related.

Today was “Field Day” for the 3rd and 4th grades, and there was quite a crowd gathered at our local football stadium for the festivities. Before everything began, Hillary sang the National Anthem across the loudspeakers in front of the several hundred people gathered there.

Here’s the kicker: she asked to do this. No, better said, she begged her computer teacher, Mrs. Lisa (pictured above) to do this. Hillary doesn’t take voice lessons, and she has never sang a song over a microphone before today. But for some reason, she decided that she wanted to do this, so she set her mind to it & did it.

And I love it.

Her future is bright.

There were a lot of important things to do today, some of which don’t need to be discussed on the World Wide Web, and the others I’m just too spent to think about anymore right now.

So I’ll just post a picture from this afternoon I added to My Ocean Springs Project. Feel free to check it out HERE. Gulf Hills has a very interesting history.

So since I’m not willing to talk about anything important today, I think I’ll mention that I’m thinking about shaving my head. Oh, quit laughing. I’m being serious.

It’s funny, I have long had weird, embarrassing hair, so it’s extra funny that the reason I’m a bit hesitant to shave my head is vanity. How could someone with hair like me be vain about it? Sheesh! I think my biggest fear is that people will mistake me for someone who is HIV-positive with a shaved head, but then again, that might not be so bad.

I like reading the writings of the whacked-out mind of Anne Lamott. I remember reading her description of watching The Shawshank Redemption. At the best moment of the movie, when the main character is exulting in the rain, she said her dominant thought was that she could never do that because it would mess her hair up. This is when she decided to let her friend transform her nappy hair into dreadlocks. I can relate to Anne, but I’m fairly certain my hair is better suited to the cue ball look than dreadlocks.

Just warning you all. Don’t be surprised someday.

I used to threaten my wife with shaving my head. After a while, she changed her response to, “Well, do it.” That’s when I realized that I wasn’t so sure of my bravery.

But I’m getting braver…

I sat down to read some more of The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne today, and I read another hundred pages before I finished. I’m almost done reading it now (just about 40 more pages), but I’m nowhere near through with what it’s doing to me.

Here’s a selection from today:

Not too long ago, I was speaking at Princeton, and some of the students asked me how they were to choose which issue of social justice is the most important. The question made me cringe. Issues? These issues have faces. We’re talking not only about ideas but also about human emergencies. My response to the well-intentioned Princeton students was, “Don’t choose issues; choose people. Come play in the fire hydrants in North Philly. Fall in love with a group of people who are marginalized and suffering, and then you won’t have to worry about which cause you need to protest. Then the issues will choose you… Just as “believers” are a dime a dozen in the church, so are “activists” in social justice circles nowadays. But lovers are hard to come by. And I think that’s what our world is desperately in need of – lovers, people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the people behind the issues they are concerned about. We are trying to raise up an army not simply of street activists but of lovers – a community of people who have fallen desperately in love with God and with suffering people, and who allow those relationships to disturb and transform them.

I took this picture of Biloxi Beach today after visiting my friend, Hezekiah, simply to show how things continue to look there today. Oh, there are signs of life: new condominiums on the rise, a brand new playground, and sunbathers basking in the sun on the sparkling white sand. But in between looks… well, like the picture shows…

I have a new answer to the maddening question from those far away: “Well, are things getting back to normal down there?”

“No” remains the best (and cleanest) answer, but I have an analogy to offer now, too.

Imagine being in a horrible car wreck. You suffer internal injuries, several broken bones, along with head trauma. You undergo several major surgeries and spend months in rehabilitation. Then, you go home. Are you back to normal then?

Of course not. There are scars that will not go away, parts of your body that do not work as they did before, and psychological issues about ever driving again.

That’s us. We are permanently scarred, and parts of what we called home will never work the way they did before again. We’re even unsure of life in general.

But we’re still here. Surviving. Making the best out of a new type of existence.

But it’s far from getting back to normal.

It won’t ever be normal again.

Another picture from the zoo this past Saturday…

Today was pretty much a typical Monday: lots of church business to attend to, along with preparing a couple of classes…

I did receive a call a bit out of the ordinary this morning from one of our local nursing homes: Mrs. Dottie requested a visit. I dropped by just after lunch to see her in her semi-private room. She was having a bad day, finding it hard to keep fighting, so she felt the need to see me and have me offer a prayer in her presence. So I did. Over the television of her roommate, the nurses, and the maintenance staff that came in and out, I consulted the Maker of the Universe on her behalf.

And this was what she wanted. About fifteen minutes of my time, and a prayer. How privileged I am to be able to offer that to her. And how humbling it is to think that this was what Mrs. Dottie so desperately needed this Monday – just fifteen minutes of my time and a prayer.

Well, the Final Four is now set: Florida vs. UCLA, and Georgetown vs. Ohio State, with the winners squaring off for the National Championship. With my bracket busted, I’m just rooting for Florida as an SEC devotee.

I had the pleasure of attending the 2003 Final Four at the Louisana Superdome in New Orleans. In the Final Four contests, I got to see stars like Dwyane Wade, T. J. Ford, Kirk Hinrich, and Nick Collison, but the star of that weekend was Carmelo Anthony in his dramatic coming-out party. He was simply amazing.

The coolest part of the whole experience was the tip-off of the championship. I wish you all could have seen the camera flashes explode when the ball was tossed in the air. It was so impressive the entire crowd uttered a “whoa” at the same time!

I’ll have to say that going to a Final Four is a must-do for all the sports enthusiasts among us!

Go Gators!!!

We normally have around 130 or 140 people come to our Sunday morning worship services at the Ocean Springs Church of Christ. We had 95 people go to the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans today!

It was our month (with our friends, Todd & Robin Hayes) to plan a young adult party, and Jody had the idea of going to the zoo. It was quite a hit! I don’t know what it is about going to the zoo, but it struck a chord with a LOT of folks, and we had a great day.

It does make me feel old that going to the zoo qualifies as a cardio workout (I’m exhausted!), but in spite of that bit of negativity, it was neat to spend time with so many neat folks that are a part of our church family & to enjoy the beautiful animals on a gorgeous day.

A couple of important things to note in the picture today: (1) the deck project is starting to look like a deck, and (2) look in the background to see that Hillary and her friend, Alexis, actually got to go swimming today!!!

A couple of things you can’t tell from the picture today: (1) the deck looks even better now than in the picture – in fact, it’s done up to the rails & stairs now, and (2) I got to kill a snake today (with apologies to the naturalists among us)!

One other thing: I’m dead tired.

Good night everyone!!!

I received a phone call from Oklahoma yesterday requesting I visit a family member in Gulfport Memorial Hospital. So I did early this morning.

But I’ll be honest: I didn’t expect it to go very well.

There’s a reason for that, of course, and the reason is that practically every time I get a request like this it doesn’t go very well. Typically, a distant family member is worried for the soul of their relative miles away, and with health failing the situation becomes urgent, so they call the preacher to go make a visit as a last desperate attempt at reaching the spiritual side. And in this situation, typically, the visit-ee has absolutely no interest in the visit-or, and the visit-ee makes that rather obvious. And it’s no fun being that visit-or.

So as I drove the 25 miles to Gulfport this morning about 7:30am, I expected this day wouldn’t get off to a stirring start.

But I was wrong.

I enjoyed meeting Barbara today. Her cancer has made life painful for her, but she and I had a most pleasant conversation to begin this Thursday. Her house isn’t far from our church family’s building, and Barbara actually said she hoped to come visit us if her health allowed her to get out again.

It wasn’t really a dramatic lesson, but in a certain way it was: don’t depend too much on your expectations.

And if you need further evidence, I’ll send you a copy of my NCAA Tournament bracket.

I had the pleasure of meeting Bruce Davis today at The Art House, a fascinating little co-op in downtown Ocean Springs (which you can read about HERE).

It was a bit ironic that I went to The Art House today, given the topic of my Peak of the Week class tonight. I’ve never sat in, much less taught, a “church” class on art, but that is what I did tonight. With full credit to Darryl Tippens and his book, Pilgrim Heart, I launched into the idea that the act of “creating” is an act consistent with people following the path of Jesus.

As Dr. Tippens pointed out, the Church has rarely been friendly to artists, and that is so very sad. “The arts” have either been portrayed as evil, or, more to my experience, as secular (meaning that they don’t have anything to do with religion). Instead, for those who believe, I can’t imagine how “affecting a sense of beauty” can be removed from God, the ultimate Artist.

The world has it’s share of ugliness. It strikes me as a good idea for followers of God to be both encouragers of and participants in bringing beauty to the forsaken parts of our world.