One Wedding Down and One To Go

Last weekend was a very special weekend in our lives. Our youngest, Meredith, was married at the beach. This wedding took a lot of planning over the summer, and this was made more difficult by the fact that Meredith was away all summer directing a camp. Our early concerns were hurricanes, since this was the middle of hurricane season. As the day approached, we were simply concerned about rain or thunderstorms. While I was getting cleaned up for the event, a thunderstorm erupted just a mile or so from us and we got some sprinkles. A towel on the chairs took care of that. We had rented a six passenger golf cart for the day and that shuttled people from the house to the beach and back. We arrived right on time, and the event came off with just one little hitch. I dropped one of the rings into the sand. Oops.
It rolled off my Bible, but Sammy, the other minister, had his head bowed wiping the sweat out of his eye when the ring hit the sand. He saw exactly where it buried itself and reached down to retrieve it. What a relief! And, both mom and I were able to keep our emotions intact. This was difficult. I had conducted three weddings of people close to us, a nephew, a niece, and a long-time friend, and I had gotten emotional at each of these. But this was a great celebration. The food was plentiful, and everyone had a good time. Oh, but I said, "one to go" didn't I? Yes, our son and his fiance will wed in November in Tennessee. That one should prove less stressful.

I could not post this without a tremendous thank you to our friends Richard (photographer) and Linda, and Mike and Judy. They helped it to come off without a hitch and we got to enjoy it. Thanks, friend. You are friends, INDEED!

Cousins will always be family!

Family is something we are born into. We don't get to choose our parents, grandparents, our siblings or our cousins. Each year the extended May family gathers for an annual reunion at Clarkco State Park in Quitman, Mississippi. We have done that for the past 26 years. I have been blessed to be a part of every one of them. What started out with three siblings, and three of their sisters-in-law, after a few years was down to only first cousins, their children, and their grandchildren. We have seen this group that met previously only at funerals become more attached to each other and far better acquainted. We have seen cousins' grandchildren become acquainted with their relatives. This underscores the importance of family.

This year we were blessed with the attendance of some second cousins (folks who share a set of great grandparents), one of whom I had met while visiting in Las Vegas years ago, and two sisters and their husbands who I met for the very first time. The sisters have another cousin who had attended and had planned to come this year, but he had bypass surgery and was unable to make it. They came anyway and added a lot to our group. The cousin from Nevada came with his wife, and one of his daughters, her husband and their three children. These all added 11 to our number.

It oftens seems like a four day eating contest and I am struggling to take off what I added to my weight that week. We started on Wednesday night with the coastal cousins bringing the shrimp. On Thursday, my oldest brother, Mike, hosted the brothers and their families for dinner at his cabin. He cooks some mean vegetables. I hosted for steaks and hamburgers on Friday. Then we had our icecream fellowship Friday night. Saturday was the day for our big covered dish luncheon. Several drive in just for that event. We enjoy each other's company, looking at old pictures, swimming in the lake, playing cards, and visiting "Dirt Cheap" in Quitman.
The week went by so fast (we arrived on Wednesday and left on Sunday, so that is alsmost a week!). I look forward to 2010. Wish it were tomorrow!

Why Curiosity Killed the Cat

Last week was not what you would call a good week. My good friend and colleague, Gary, lost his 12 year old daughter after an almost two year battle with cancer. (I will post more about that later.)

On Wednesday I was doing the Facebook thing and got FB messages from a former student, and from the state Baptist exec., claiming to have tagged me in a photo or video. I bit, clicked on the link, and was hacked/phished, and totally embarassed. The worm/virus/trojan began sending vulgar messages to all my FB friends. Several replied immediately, and I got a warning message from a colleage soon after, but it was too late. A few FB friends were as curious as I had been and were infected as well. I am grateful that some friends knew I would not send them a suggestive or vulgar message and immediately deleted the message.

It took our IT guru most of Thursday and Friday to clean up the mess on our computers. I hope we are clean now.

It all began with my curiousity. I wanted to see what these friends had identified.
That was my downfall. I didn't check it out more thoroughly, and I, and many others, paid a great price. Be sure that I will check it out now before I click. If it is in any way suspicious, I will delete. I may miss a few good ones, but I will certainly eliminate a multitude of troubles.

Curiosity killed the cat, and it almost killed my computer and those in our office.

How important are birthdays to you?

I grew up in a home where we did not make a real big deal out of birthdays. I have some vague memories of my third birthday, but clear memories of my seventh birthday. We took a trip to Moundville, and I remember climbing on those mounds, seeing the burial sites, and enjoying a picnic there. I remember the Bible my Aunt Mary gave to me, a red-letter KJV with a zipper. I still have it. I also have memories of an earlier birthday party for my brothers who were twins, and the little boy who wanted to take the presents he brought home with him. Then there was the special surprise party given by a girlfriend and the guys who totally misled me about the event, telling me we were going to play putt-putt, but first they had to stop by Jana's to get some record albums(the CD's of our era). When the two guys went in, Don and I remained in the car. After several minutes, he said he thougth we should go in. I agreed. Little did I know that all those people were there for me! While I was in seminary, surprise parties were the going thing, and Helen surprised me and sent me off to the library to study for a while. I remember walking up the sidewalk and seeing a car that looked like one that a friend drove. Still, I was too dense to recognize what was happening. I tried to reciprocate the next year and took Helen to Lexington to get her out of the apartment while friends decorated. The problem was we got through early and I tried every delay tactic possible. We still arrived 15 minutes early. Feigning a rush to the bathroom, I managed to get in the apartment to get everyone to be ready for her entrance. IT worked. She was surprised.

Other than these, birthdays haven't been that big of a deal. I remember my 40th because I had to preach that day and was in the process of relocating to Troy.
I thought that was old, then, but little did I realize the real truth.
Forty is YOUNG!!!

This is birthday week for a special lady in my life.
I won't dare say how old, but not very old. Happy Birthday, Helen!!!!

Three Dozen Years

Most of you don't know it, but on this day thirty-six years ago, Helen and I were married at the Westview Baptist Church on Damascus Road in Enterprise, AL, Helen's home town. It was a sunny day, not quite as warm as today. The whole wedding event was fun, but I was certainly nervous. As far as weddings go, it was pretty big for a small town church--I had a best man, and three brothers and three friends as groomsmen. I am thankful to say I have kept up with each of the friends and see them from time to time. Helen had the comparable number of attendants. Several members of my family were able to come. One cousin and her husband arrived as we were exiting the church after the ceremony. We went to great lengths to hide our car, so much so that it took a long and circuitous route to retrieve it from the friend's garage. I just knew my three brothers would do it up badly if they found it. We left the church going the wrong direction to avoid followers, and actually had to come back by the church to get to the car's location.

Helen was a beautiful bride. We took most of our photos before the wedding. That eased my nerves considerably. So much for the tradition of bad luck seeing the bride before the wedding. We had 36 good years, not without challenges, but we have been richly blessed. Happy Anniversary? You bet!

Swimming Pools

Growing up I always dreamed of living in a house with a swimming pool. Now, much later in life, we actually have one. Last year we replaced the pool liner and converted it to a saline pool. Lots of folks don't realize what a saline pool is.
There is a special converter that converts the sodium cloride (NaCl- or salt) into chlorine, and this part is the main component of the switch. What I heard about reducing the upkeep is true, and my chemical bills have gone way down. I have had to add calcium, and stabilizer and salt. No longer am I ruining good clothes by getting chlorine on them. And, gone is that heavy chlorine smell. Oh, I forgot to mention how much better on your skin the salt water is. I still have to maintain it, but it is now much easier. I check the water every two weeks and make sure the right balances are there. Now, if it would just warm up enough to swim. We usually start when the water temp gets to about 80 degrees, and it's almost there. Splash!

Two Deaths

Today I learned of the death of two friends. The first was my colleague, John Long, who was serving as the Director of Missions for the Madison Baptist Association in Huntsville. John died this morning of a heart attack. I am deeply saddened. John was a long time friend and colleague. We were at Southern Seminary together for a brief time before John transferred. We really got acquainted in Huntsville where John was a pastor and I was the campus minister. I even tried to employ his wife, Robyn, as a graduate assistant to work with internationals at Alabama A&M. We moved to Montgomery in 1979 and John and Robyn came shortly afterwards. John served in "Discipleship Training" with the State Board of Missions for several years. I remember John was the first person who introduced me to "DiscipleNow" weekends for youth. Evidently in those day John and I looked a lot alike. We both were about the same height, wore glasses, had moustaches and had the same color hair. One day when I was in the Baptist Building, one of the new secretaries said to me, "Good morning, Mr. Long." We moved to Troy and did not have as much contact. John served as interim pastor at Dalraida Baptist Church. Later he became the Director of Missions for Baldwin Baptist Association, and then move back to Huntsville to be DOM. I saw John last week at the state Evangelism Conference. I am told he was in town in Montgomery Monday for a special meeting. What I can say about John is that he was deeply committed to God and to the ministry God had given him. He was solid, insightful, and steady--a good friend. Our sympathies go out to Robyn and the family.

The second death I learned about was the death of Dr. David Browning. Dr. Browning, who served as pastor of FBC Troy and Valley Park Baptist, befriended me after I moved to Montgomery to be campus minister at ASU where, after leaving Troy, Dr. Browning taught philosophy. While teaching there, he served as bi-vocational pastor of the Mountain Hill Baptist Church in the southern part of our county for about 14 years.. I preached there several times after he resigned. He did a very good job at Valley Park and after retiring again, moved to North Carolina. They relocated back to the Auburn/Opelika area a few years ago. I bumped into one of the former Valley Park members in Sam's a few minutes ago and he told me about Dr. Browning's death. He lived a long and productive life, and would have been effective as an Episcopalian, a Presbyterian or something else, but he chose to remain a Baptist.
Thank you for your contribution, Dr. Browning.