I’m having a lot of deep thoughts myself right now, although a bit unlike Mr. Handey’s deep thinking as exhibited above. None of my deep thinking is bloggable just yet, however. Some mental journeys are best taken alone.

I did tell my friend, Trent, while in Memphis, that I’ve been in sort of a funk lately. He said that it seems like everyone he’s been talking to lately has said the same thing. Maybe there’s something in the weather.

Whatever it is, I’m mostly just checking in today – doing my bit to maintain my spiritual discipline of blogging. But it isn’t because there isn’t anything significant to report. There just isn’t anything significant to report out loud.

After four straight days away, I’m searching for an up side to getting back to work today. The best I can come up with is the fact that I don’t have to drive hundreds of miles today, like I’ve done for each of the past four days.

Prepping for Sunday, and studying for Peak of the Week tonight are the highlights on today’s agenda.

Quick update on my trip to Memphis:

#1: I stopped briefly (seriously, ten minutes) to see the Kelley family pictured above on the way in last night. I called John as I passed through, and after talking to him (though I didn’t REALLY have the time!), I just couldn’t help stopping to see their new, precious addition, Alivia. Though she fussed for the picture, it was such an honor to hold her for a minute. John, Jinger, Alicia, and Alivia are family to us, and more special than they will ever understand.

#2: I made it to my friend, Trent’s, apartment at 7pm. Trent is a very special friend as well, and I hadn’t seen him in probably a decade (though we’ve communicated a lot via email and in blog land). We started talking at 7pm, made a trip to Huey’s to eat their world famous hamburgers while we kept talking, and decided to shut down the conversation at 12:30am this morning (although we could have gone all night long talking). We talked about some deep stuff, we watched some football, and we laughed at hilarious old memories. Just like old times, in other words.

#3: I went to sleep on Trent’s couch at 12:30am with the alarm set at 5am. I actually woke up before the alarm sounded. I showered and drove to Baptist Memorial East for my niece’s surgery at 5:30am. I got to see Jessica before she went back for the surgery just after 7am. They began the surgery at 7:50am, expecting it to take 4 or 5 hours, but when they got inside they discovered a much better situation than expected!!! The surgery only lasted two hours, and instead of getting into the gory details, suffice it to say that everyone was pleasantly surprised with the outcome! Jessica will still end up staying in the hospital for a week or so, and this was her 5th major surgery at only 24 years old, so things aren’t perfect by any stretch. But there is a big sigh of relief rising from my family this evening.

I cannot thank you all enough for your prayers and concerns.

I hope folks read my blog entry from yesterday. I was seriously floored by the graciousness of the folks I met in Tuscaloosa.

And by the way, the pictures I took are all better than what you saw in the cramped slideshow from yesterday’s blog. Instead, go to my “webshots page” link on the left of this page, click on the Arkansas/Alabama game folder, then click slideshow (it doesn’t cut off the edges). Some of them are print-worthy or good for your desktop displays. Feel free to download and/or pass around.

I have another big day today. I’m headed to Memphis tonight so I can be with my family early Tuesday for a major surgery my niece, Jessica, is facing. Please pray for her.

I don’t plan to blog again until late Tuesday evening.

Arkansas vs Alabama at Tuscaloosa

Today just happens to be my 37th birthday, and I’ve had a terrific one. The trip to Tuscaloosa yesterday was just great, in so many ways…

* The drive from Ocean Springs to Tuscaloosa is an easy one with easy traffic
* My friend, Shannon, had us a great parking place at the house of a friend of his, a super neat guy who has run for mayor of Tuscaloosa before… He was a gracious host, and he has some of the coolest Alabama football memorabilia decorating his house.
* The weather was perfect, though a little hot wandering around campus yesterday afternoon, but I’d be a sad person to complain about yesterday’s weather.
* We had a quick lunch at Quizno’s before wandering all over campus: we toured the Bear Bryant Museum, wandered around the Quad, and then stopped by the President’s Mansion (which was only open for private guests, but a young representative from the University of Alabama took the time to give us a full rendition of the mansion’s amazing history!)
* We got into Bryant-Denny Stadium super early, and Hillary was glued next to the fence where the cheerleaders were warming up. Her two biggest desires before the game were to get a Razorback pom-pom and one of the little hog stickers for her face. It took two seconds at the fence before the cheerleader sponsor gave her both unprompted.
* And then there was the game. I’m sure some Alabama fans will call it THE game for a while now. It was an awesome game, even if my team did end up on the short end at the game’s conclusion. In spite of the way it began, it turned out to be very entertaining.

But much to the chagrin of many of my friends, and much to the delight of a few others, I’ve got to say something: Jody, Hillary, and I had the best time meeting Alabama fans.

#1: It began of course, with Shannon’s friend, Mark, who was so gracious to us.

#2: It continued at the fence before the game when Hillary and I met one of the girlfriends of an Alabama player. It was her boyfriend’s first time to dress out with the team, and we had the best time helping her find him among the players and talking to her. She didn’t care that we were for Arkansas. She was simply a nice person.

#3: It continued at our seats, completely surrounded by Alabama fans. We instantly made friends with the guy sitting next to us, and by the time the game was over, everyone was congratulating us on a great game as we did the same in return. I’m serious: it was like we were among family.

#4: It also happened at halftime, while I stood in a super-long line for a hot dog and soda. The lady in front of me was an Alabama fan, and in the pressing crowd it seemed that everyone that needed through asked to walk in front of her. We had the best time during the fourteen-hour wait laughing about her invisible sign asking people to cut in front of her. She was a lot of fun.

#5: On the way out of the stadium after the game, stuck between tons of joyous Alabama fans, one couple struck up a friendly conversation, complimenting out team, and just being good people.

#6: And then outside the stadium, as we walked through the throng of fans yelling ROLL TIDE (much to Hillary’s dismay!), a young representative of the university approached us and asked if we had enjoyed our stay at the game. I’m serious!!! We assured him that we had, and he made it clear that they had every intention that we enjoyed our visit to Tuscaloosa, and I hope I made it clear that we did.

I’ve heard lots of people say that they have two favorite teams: (1) their favorite team, and (2) whoever is playing Alabama.

Well, after the way we were treated in enemy territory, I think I lost my interest in that second favorite team.

I had the pleasure of taking this picture of Darren McFadden (#5) and the Arkansas Razorbacks last year in an early season game at Auburn. At the time, Auburn was ranked among the best in the nation, and Arkansas wasn’t. I went without a ticket, found one outside next to the Arkansas section, and had the best time at a sporting event in my life as McFadden made a name for himself and the Razorbacks whipped the War Eagles.

I can’t really hope for a complete repeat performance today, but maybe it can come close.

My family is headed to Tuscaloosa today (without tickets) to watch the Hogs battle the Crimson Tide at 5:45pm on ESPN tonight. The weather is expected to be perfect. It will be the first big home game for Nick Saban in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Our good friend, Shannon, has hooked us up with a great parking place. I am SO excited about today!

I graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1992, and my last roommate there is one of my favorite people ever (Jon Wood). Jon was finishing law school when I was finishing my undergrad degree, and he came to law school after doing graduate work at the University of Alabama. He was a HUGE sports fan, too, and I’ve never forgotten him saying that I had to go to a football game in Tuscaloosa at least once in my life.

That 15-year-old desire is scheduled for today.

GO HOGS GO!!!!

(Expect a report tomorrow night!)

A storm rolled through just as I arrived with my daughter last night to her elementary school’s Open House, and though it put a literal damper on the evening, it still turned out to be fun. Hillary goes to a good public school, with excellent teachers, populated by lots of cool kids from neat, diverse families.

I have lived in Ocean Springs for close to nine years now. I am not an extrovert by any stretch, but I do get involved in things that allow me to form relationships with folks, so after nine years I do feel like I know quite a few people in this community. I enjoy noticing on nights like last night that I am a part of a community.

Someday it might hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks, but so far I have enjoyed watching both of my daughters grow up. I have enjoyed each passing phase instead of getting weepy over the fact that they aren’t little girls anymore.

But they are definitely both growing up. Twenty years old, and ten years old sure aren’t babies. I could tell last night at Open House that my “baby” stands on the brink of adolescence. Life will be changing dramatically, and soon.

I’ve been looking forward to today. If nothing explodes in the next few hours, I plan to take the short drive to Mobile, Alabama, for lunch with three of my preacher friends. All three of these guys are friends of one another from way back, but they’ve graciously allowed me into their circle on days like today, and for that I am thankful.

I’m a bit concerned that we’re eating lunch at Bob Baumhower’s restaurant, seeing as how he’s an Alabama boy, and my Razorbacks are battling the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa this Saturday. I don’t think this qualifies as an act of betrayal on my part, though.

My three preacher friends are bloggers, too, if you haven’t visited their cyber-world already:
* John Dobbs (the king of all bloggers)
* Danny Dodd
* Les Ferguson

If you go to their blogs today, you’ll read about my topic from yesterday on two of them. Both John and Danny knew various parts of the family of Heather Spencer, the young lady brutally murdered two days ago. Danny, in fact, has been asked to preach her funeral in Jackson tomorrow, so I hope today’s lunch will be good timing for him as a bright spot in a dark week.

I don’t know about these three jokers, but this lunch today is good timing for me.

I was in a meeting yesterday afternoon at my daughter’s elementary school when my cell phone silently buzzed in my pocket. When I had a chance to check it, I saw it was from Jay, but he didn’t leave a message. I assumed that it wasn’t important, but I was very wrong.

Jay’s son-in-law, Matt, called me about an hour later to see if I had heard about Jay’s niece, Heather. The tragic news was that Heather had been murdered by her boyfriend in Jackson that morning.

I didn’t know Heather personally, just her family. I was called to pass along the call to prayer to our church family and the world via email, which I did. It turns out that several of my preacher buddies have ministered to various parts of this family over the years, and what I’ve heard repeatedly is that Heather was a beautiful and kind girl. She was 28 years old.

The newspaper in Jackson covered the story yesterday, and it is their lead story this morning. Yesterday’s reports offered the horrible description, “bludgeoned to death,” as the cause of death. There was a lengthy standoff at a gas station. It seems that the murderer had his mom in the car with him – and a gun – and was threatening to kill himself. Eventually, the SWAT team and their negotiators talked him into surrendering.

What do you say to tragedies such as this? Nothing constructive. Bemoaning the state of the world doesn’t get us anywhere, nor does putting on a false, happy face. And saying how sorry we feel doesn’t seem to go very far either. We pray, mostly because that’s all we know to do.

But maybe the best offering we can make today is the powerful, reverent gift of silence. Sometimes being speechless is the most appropriate response of all.

Today is September 11.

It doesn’t seem like six years has gone by, though I couldn’t tell you what it seems like instead. It remains one of those landmark days, but for those of us not personally affected by the loss of a loved one, it is possible for the date to sneak up without our realizing it. It sneaked up on me.

I still see lots of bumper stickers claiming that we will never forget, and overall, we won’t. Both the ghastly and heroic images combine to form a solitary image, seared in our memories, labeled 9-11. My youngest daughter doesn’t remember that day. She was four years old. But a whole lot of us remember, and always will.

So much as changed since those attacks – wars, public policy, the airline industry, even our national vocabulary. Then again, so much hasn’t – our materialism, apathy, lifestyle…

My daughter just came in to give me a morning hug. Her oversized nightshirt, still on early this Tuesday, is an I LOVE NEW YORK shirt with the big heart there to represent the word, love.

An appropriate shirt this morning, I’m sure, on this day to remember…