2013

One more day and another year will have come and gone.We use to write down our resolutions and our weight each year but the time has past for those things now.I am sitting in Pump It Up with Cash- his reward for helping me with some gutters in Calhoun.He asked me if I was the boss of everything,I told him that was Gods job.Didnt tell him how relieved I was about that.There are many seasons in our lives.I use to remember Grandmother telling me she was tired and ready to go "home" .I understand now what she was saying.I was thinking of all the family and friends who have gone "home" and I still miss them and guess I always will.Life is a series of fleeting moments that are ours to capture if we only will.May each of you experience love,peace and abundance in the coming year

Prayer Warrior

Losing has always been painful for me.My first loss was my Dad when I was 5.I'm still dealing with that one 55 years after the fact.As we get older we become experienced losers.People we love,ideals dreams,our youth our work and some things or causes we have given our life to.After I finished running this morning I sat down in the basement and read one of Jolene's prayer journals.The year was 2007.Pretty much our whole time in foster care-13 years she had kept a prayer journal.She consistently and faithfully prayed for all the kids and family and things she needed in her life.While reading I felt such a profound since of loss for all of us.We all lost a faithful prayer warrior ,primarily because of my thoughtless actions.The only person that ever prayed so fervently for me was Jolene.All the children that have been in our life were probably like I was ,oblivious to the value of someone each day lifting you up to the One who makes everything so. Don't get me wrong prayers are still being sent up for all we love .All the kids are grown and prayers sent up long ago have been mostly answered but many prayers will be on going- for safety,peace ,love, purpose and ,forgiveness.Maybe the best thing we gave them was a model of how a family could be and that the one constant in this old world is God's love for each of us.He gives us angels to help us get through it all  took me a while to recognize mine.

50 Years Ago

Last week marked the 50 th anniversary of JFK's assassination .I was sitting in my 3rd grade class and I can still hear Mrs Gaskill crying as the news came over the intercom.It was one of the saddest periods in our countries history.All the events were broadcast over all 3 of our tv channels which were picked up over an antennae which we installed on our roof.Russia was our countries biggest threat and many of our richest neighbors had bomb shelters.At school we had bomb drills where we would literally get under our desks in case of an attack.Seems crazy now when I think back on it.At first everyone was sure the Russians were responsible.The Kennedy's were the family everyone wanted to be like-all good looking,smart, rich.John Kennedy could inspire an entire nation with his speeches and made us feel like nothing was impossible.He challenged us to put a man on the moon and we did!He stood up to Castro in Cuba and Krueschef in Russia -He seemed invincible .He inherited a war in Vietnam .Their was also a racial split in the country.Schools were segregated.Blacks rode in the back of the bus and they had separate bathrooms and drinking fountains.All those things seem ridiculous now but not back then.A lady named Eva Lou Ragland lived with us for about a year-she was black.The Klue Klux Klan KKK burned a cross in our yard.It was a challenging time for everyone,especially the president.He inspired us to serve with the phase "Ask not what your country can do for you ,but what you can do for your country."He started the Peace Corp.An organization that young people joined to serve others for two years.He inspired us to better.We lost a president 50 years ago but individually and as a nation we lost much more that day.We lost hope and we lost our innocence.In some ways we still mourn as we grasp to understand mans inhumanity to man.In the span of a few years Bobby Kennedy -the presidents brother and Martin Luther King a black preacher and Civil Rights leader were also taken by assassin's bullets.We have our share of problems in this country but we are making progress.And yes there is always hope.