Great Weekend

Please excuse me if this post seems scattered.  I have lots of things on my mind.  Friday I seemed to experience a variety of emotion.  I found myself thinking of all the veterans who have selflessly served our country and defended our freedoms - friends and family in their twenties and thirties, as well as the ninety-three year old deacon in our church who can remember vivid details of his World War II service in the Pacific.  I am so thankful for each and every one of them.  Happy Veterans Day.

Bro. Charles G. Kitchens and me

I also found myself overwhelmed by the Total Depravity of man.  Friends and I at work discussed the scandal at Penn State, and it is utterly despicable and disheartening.  We should all be in prayer for the victims and their families during this tough time.  I can only look to the Righteous God we serve during times as these.

Then, Friday night, my mom and I went to see October Baby at the movie theater.  I highly recommend this movie to everyone.  It is an amazing story of the gift of life and the power of forgiveness.  At 18, the protagonist, Hannah, discovers that she was adopted as a baby after a failed abortion attempt.  You will be moved as she makes her journey.  The showing in Birmingham was a limited release.  Hopefully, it will hit theaters everywhere in the spring.  Pray that funds are raised to distribute this film throughout the USA.  Many of the scenes were filmed in Birmingham and other locations in Alabama.  In fact, several friends are sitting in the scene at the theater.

Saturday was an absolutely beautiful fall day in Alabama.  I assisted my mother and brother-in-law to rid our yard of leaves.  The end result was a Great Wall of Leaves that resembled a fortress for the outer boundaries.  Where is a Four-Year Old to jump in the pile when you need him/her?

And today, I heard the beginning to an amazing series of sermons by my pastor.  It is titled "The Importance of Godly Parenting".  I was convicted, encouraged, and inspired.  I can't wait for the rest.  Check them out at www.zionrestpbc.org.  

Yes, it has been a wonderful weekend.

ALA | Banned Books Week

ALA | Banned Books Week

Hello friends. It has been a long time. I have no excuse, other than I really have not been on my computer much over the last several months. My iphone has proven quite helpful in that area. But, enough of that. I came across this article today, and I wanted to share it.

Did you know that it is Banned Books Week? Yes, yes it is.

I was curious to see - what books have made the list? Have I read any of them? Would I consider them controversial? Unfortunately, it was difficult to find an all-inclusive list of all books that have been challenged or banned. But I did come across a list of "classic" banned books. Books that many of us have read and/or were required to read in school. You may notice that some of the numbers skip. Originally this was a list of Radcliffe's Rival 100 Best Novels. If a number/book is missing, it hasn't been challenged or banned. So, to fill you with random knowledge, below is the list:

1. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger 3. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck - read in 12th grade
4. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee - read in 9th grade
5. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses, by James Joyce
7. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding - read in 9th(?) grade
9. 1984, by George Orwell
11. Lolita, by Vladmir Nabokov
12. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
15. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
16. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
17. Animal Farm, by George Orwell - read in 9th grade
18. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
19. As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
20. A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway
23. Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
24. Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
25. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
26. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
27. Native Son, by Richard Wright
28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey
29. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
30. For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
33. The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
36. Go Tell it on the Mountain, by James Baldwin
38. All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren 40. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien - read last year
45. The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair - read as a sophomore in college
48. Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D.H. Lawrence
49. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
50. The Awakening, by Kate Chopin
53. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
55. The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie
57. Sophie's Choice, by William Styron
64. Sons and Lovers, by D.H. Lawrence
66. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
67. A Separate Peace, by John Knowles
73. Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs
74. Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh
75. Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence
80. The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer
84. Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller
88. An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser
97. Rabbit, Run, by John Updike

Southernisms

A dear sister in our church and I have been going back and forth for a couple of weeks now describing our past week with "southernisms" as I'll call them.  Then, we try to describe what they mean.  We wind up just laughing and laughing.  Here's a few we've come up with:

• Middlin' - this means to just be doing fair.  You don't feel great, but you don't feel poor either.  It's somewhere in the middle, thus you are middlin'.

• Piddlin' - this means to be doing something with no particular purpose.  Twidlin' your thumbs is a perfect example.  Whitlin' is another example.  I'll cover both these next.

• Twidlin' - twirling something, usually in reference to your thumbs.  But I suppose it could be any other object as well.

• Whitlin' - this term is used most often in reference to wood and cutting away at it with a knife.  I think it probably originally comes from the word "whetting", which means to sharpen.  Most people are "whitlin" with no particular purpose, thus they are "piddlin' while they're whitlin".

• Fiddlin' - this term has two meanings.  It could mean to play a musical instrument, namely the fiddle.  Or, it could mean to attempt to fix an object.  You may fiddle with a radio, a car, or anything else electronic or mechanical.

Which words have I forgotten?  Do you have a different definition for some of these?  Please do share!

Shuttle Discovery Launches!

Latest Space Shuttle News

Space Shuttle Discovery Launches on Final Voyage

It was a bittersweet moment when I saw this article today.  The Shuttle Discovery has launched successfully for its 39th and last time.

I have always loved reading and learning about the space program.  I suppose I come by it naturally.  My dad loves looking up at the stars at night, as do I.  And since I was a young child, I have always dreamed of traveling to space.  How amazing must it be to look on our tiny earth and see the immensity of space.  I cannot imagine orbiting the earth and not thinking of our amazing Creator nonstop.  But, alas, science was not my best subject.

For my entire life I have only know the shuttle program.  I have seen its joys as we have built the International Space Station (ISS), and its sorrows when we lost the Challenger and the Columbia.  I know the technology it has brought the U.S., and the advances it has made in science.  Some of the most basic tech tools we have today are a result of the space program.

So, reading this article was bittersweet.  The Discovery will be retired when it returns, eventually making its way to the Smithsonian Museum, where it can long be treasured and admired.  And, after Atlantis and Endeavor make their journeys this year, they, too, will be retired.  And the shuttle program will end.  And since President Obama has cut back on funding for NASA and instead encouraged the private sector to take over, it may be a long time before we return to space.

It is my prayer and desire that this mindset be changed, and we return to the heavens soon.  Thank you, Discovery, for all you have done.  You and your crews have served your country well.  May God bless the current crew, and return you safely home.

**Thanks to nasa.gov for the use of the picture.  This is a picture of the lift-off this morning.  Below picture also from nasa.gov.

Crazy Love

Tonight I went to dinner at Nabeel's.  It's almost becoming a weekly tradition.  The food is delicious, and the atmosphere takes you to somewhere else.  Somewhere in the Mediterranean.  I like it, though, because I can simply bring a book or two and read while eating something fantastic.

So, I brought my One Year KJV Bible and the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan.  I have not followed the "days" at all, so I'm reading somewhere in June.  Before reading, I asked God to reveal whatever I needed in his Word.  And He did.  Of course He did.  I read 1 Kings 19:1-21.  It tells the story of Elijah, who after defeating the prophets of Baal, runs away from Jezebel.  He tells the Lord how hard he has worked and that only he is left among his servants.  And God reveals himself to Elijah in a small voice.  Elijah repeats the same words, and God tells him to go anoint Elisha.  Usually the focus of this story is that God had 7,000 others who had not bowed down to Baal.  But, tonight I focused in on the fact that God sent Elijah to anoint Elisha.  At one of Elijah's weakest moments, God reminds him that he is raising up servants to serve the Lord.  He is not the only one right now, nor will the ministry die with him.  What a comforting thought!

Then, I started the 2nd chapter of my book, Crazy Love.  I can already tell that it is going to be a perfect accompaniment to the Bible Study I started on Tuesday night.  The first chapter was all about re-discovering God.  Realizing just how awesome He is.  If you haven't seen this, you should really take a few minutes to watch the video below:

Pretty amazing, right?  That doesn't even do it justice.

The 2nd chapter, then, is all about death.  That may seem strange, but Chan points you to the fact that the "Movie of Life" is not about you.  It's about God.  He makes this parallel.  If you were an extra in a movie, and only your head was seen for about a second, yet you rented the entire movie theater out so people could see it, they would think you were crazy.  The movie obviously isn't about you.  And so it is with life.  We are here for a fraction of a second, and our entire purpose is to glorify God.  That's what it's all about (not the hokey pokey...sorry, I couldn't resist).  Let us be about our Father's business.

"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth."


"And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him."


Colossians 3:2,17

Birmingham Sunset

I've been thinking a lot about seeing God in the nature all around us.  I've always known that to be true, but I've really tried to dwell on it lately and not miss it.  It's so easy for a day to pass by and truly miss all the beauty that surrounds us and testifies of a magnificent Creator.

Tonight, as I travelled to Jasper, I couldn't help but be amazed at the sunset right before my eyes.  Now that spring is approaching, I don't leave work in the dark.  I can actually see the sun in its waning moments.  Sunsets are absolutely beautiful.  They leave you speechless and completely inspired.  Whether it's trying to comprehend the light itself or the magnitude of its size, or trying to count the many colors the sunset inspires - purples, blues, pinks, oranges - it all points back to Christ.  He is our light.  He sees and knows each of us individually.  He loves us.

All Clean

Last night I got in a cleaning mood.  I came home from work about 6:00 and I cleaned until my phone rang at 9:00.  I...

• washed the dishes
• laundered my bed sheets and clothes
• cleaned the fabric softener dispenser, which was starting to look gummy
• wiped my counters (AND) polished them - Ok, so I cheated.  It's a cleaner/polisher solution all-in-one.
• Disenfected and Sanitized my sink, toilet, and tub
• Scrubbed my bathroom floors (think Cinderella...on the floor on my hands and knees scrubbing)
• Dusted all my furniture
• Vacuumed my floors

It was a very productive evening!  I felt much better sitting down and relaxing after that, and not somewhat lazy as I usually do.  :-)

It also probably didn't hurt that I had Pandora Radio blaring over my phone for the entire 3 hours.  It helps pass the time so much more quickly.  It was set to my favorite customized station - Blackbird Radio.  LOVE it.  You should check out Pandora for yourself here.



Photo courtesy of istockphoto.com.



Abide with Me

I feel as though I have been in a spiritual rut for the past year.  I knew I needed to come back to Jesus.  "Draw near to me, and I will draw near unto you."  But, I felt myself turning farther and farther away.

The Monday before my church's anniversary meeting, as I was walking on the treadmill listening to one of my playlists in my iPod, I heard the song by Third Day, "I've Always Loved You".  I was struck by the words - "Though you turn away, I tell you still, Don't you know I've always loved you? And I always will."  The song is written as if spoken by Christ, and I felt like I could hear what he was trying to tell me.  "I love you.  I always have.  Why are you turning away?  Come back beloved."

Then, on Wednesday night at church we sang this hymn, "Abide With Me".  I've sung this hundreds of times probably, and never truly paid attention to the words.

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Again, it was like Christ was speaking to me.  And, if he was speaking to me through these songs, then when the meeting arrived and the sermons were preached, I think he actually grabbed me and shook me!  I had been praying all week for the meeting to be blessed, but I was still amazed that God blessed ME.  I felt as if the messages were being preached directly to me.  I was humbled and awed.  And renewed.  And thankful.  It was exactly what I needed.  Rebuke, exhortation, encouragement.

The Lord is good and very good.  Praise his holy name.

The Color of Leaves

The leaves have turned magnificent shades of yellow, orange, and red just overnight it seems. It began about two weeks ago, but with this sudden cold snap this weekend, the colors just burst forth. It is so easy to overlook when we see it every year, but it truly is marvelous. This past week we had the great privilege of not only hearing Elder Martin Onyani from Kisii, Kenya, preach to us, but he also stayed in my parents' home. The equator runs through Kenya, and Elder Martin has never been outside Kenya or Tanzania until this past week. He was amazed at the colors of the leaves. He asked Dad, "What makes the leaves change color?" Dad's reply: "God." (As Elder Harold Hunt has said, "The Gospel is simply profound, and profoundly simple.")

So, I started thinking about Elder Martin's question. Usually, we tie the seasonal changes of the leaves to the time periods in our life. In the spring, new life buds forth, and full growth is in the summer. Then, in the fall the leaves fade, just as we grow older, and in the winter, the leaves die and fall to the ground. And, we even take that further. Some leaves fall "early", just as some of us leave this earth at tender ages. And some hang on until the very last days of winter. I was pondering all these things this afternoon, and then I took it another step.

I decided that perhaps the color of the leaves represent something, too, about our "older" age. For example, the brown leaves are the crusty, bitter older people who always seem to be in a sour mood. Not very pretty, nor fun to be around. Then, you have your red leaves - those people who are firecrackers. Always telling you exactly what's on their mind. Or the orange ones, the mellow ones, cool and content. And let's not forget the yellows. Bright and cheerful, bubbling over with excitement and energy.

I'm hoping to be more yellow and orange when I get older. How about you?

I Dreamed A Dream

Initially, I was in a car with my cop partner. Suddenly, we were chasing a car through downtown Birmingham, following it until it stopped at a small hole-in-the-wall diner. I was the only one who had gone unnoticed, so the task fell to me to go in and make the arrest. I walked into the diner, and moments later, the crooks were in custody.

Suddenly, I was hiking a long, long journey. I did not know my destination. Only that the journey was to be long. My companions and I made a small camp fire and had a meager dinner. The next night we found ourselves camping in a Wal-Mart. I searched for the perfect spot to watch the Alabama football game. Instead of watching it on the big screen tvs, I had to resort to watching it on a smaller screen. And the cost of a coke was ridiculous - $4.75.

Then I awoke.

And this is what I really did over the last couple of days:

Thursday night I watched Police Women of Broward County on tv.
Saturday I went to Walmart to pick up a few items, and watched football games at home later that day.
And, at various points throughout the weekend and over the last week I have been reading The Fellowship of the Ring - they just started their journey South.


Coincidence? No, afraid not. It happens quite often. My reality often gets mixed with my dreams. Confusing at times? Sometimes.

He Found My Accusations Amusing

Time: August 23rd, Sunday night, 9:30-ish
Place: Wendy's

Table of Stone: Yes, I would like two small fries and a small Frosty.
Cashier: That was two small fries and a Frosty?
Table of Stone: Yep.
Cashier: That will be $5.72.
Me: WHAT??? $5.72??? He must have gotten something wrong. There is NO WAY it could be $5.72. I thought we ordered 99 cent items. Even with tax that doesn't add up to $5.72. I'm going to ask him about it.
Table: Yeah, that doesn't make any sense!

We discuss this until we reach the window, while our friend in the car behind us is laughing. I'm reminiscing my college days when I could pay for a Frosty with change collected in my car. For you "young folk" out there, that was before a Frosty could be "vanilla", or mixed with oreos. If my total is $5.72, I figure I might should ask if he gave us chocolate, since we didn't specify, even though everyone knows that a TRUE Frosty is chocolate.

Me: How much is your Frosty these days? (trying to sound nonchalant, but having a slight edge nonetheless)
Cashier: (smirking behind the counter) It's $1.75.
Me AND Table of Stone: THAT is OUTRAGEOUS! When did they get so expensive? We thought they were still 99 cents. I'm sorry, this is not your fault. You do not have any control over this. We're just shocked.
Cashier: (not responding, but trying desperately not to laugh)

So, we drive away. With our two small fries and single Frosty. I could have bought a whole meal for $5.72.

I Don't Get It

WHY do they always have the Food Network channel on the t.v. in the women's locker room at the YMCA? Why must I always listen to Rachel Ray or Paula Deen whipping up something delicious right before I go do my yoga thing? Does someone think it is good motivation? A new torture technique being tested?

Now, don't get me wrong. I love the Food Network. I love watching Iron Chef and the amazing cake competitions. Perhaps I'm even subconsciously hoping that some of it will sink in and make me a better cook.

But, I'd rather not watch it while I'm about to sweat and try to avoid too many delicious sweets, like the petifores and green icing that Mrs. Deen was preparing yesterday.



On a different note, I haven't given a yoga update lately, so I thought I would give a brief update on my progress. I had to skip most of June due to various engagements, and boy did I feel it when I returned! We have a new instructor on Thursday nights, and I absolutely love the change. She has been focused the last couple of weeks on really strengthening our core, which is essential to yoga. My abs are sore the next day, but it's a good kind of sore. My arm strength is still not where I would like it to be, but it is so much better than a year ago when I began yoga. (Has it really been a year?? Wow.) She is also really encouraging, and I end up laughing at myself as I attempt some of the various, more difficult poses. Poses I would have sworn were impossible, but I keep pushing myself in the hope that one day I can reach the full expression of them. Like this one. Or this one. It's a building process, so you don't just go straight into them. You work your way into them. Or, attempt to anyways.

Yep. Maybe one day...