by Greg | Aug 17, 2011 | Blog Posts
This past Sunday I celebrated communion with the Sunday School Class called “Jesus’ Special Followers.” Many of you are familiar with this great class of adults who share at least two things in common: they love Jesus and they have some level of cognitive impairment. Week after week there is a loving team of volunteers who work with these students and their caregivers to provide safe and sacred space to feel loved, valued, and affirmed. This particular Sunday I was asked to gather with them in the Storey Chapel to participate in a worship service where we sang “This Little Light of Mine” and “Jesus Loves Me” and a few other choruses. They formed a choir and sang raucously and joyfully before quieting down for my brief meditation leading into communion. Just before sharing in the bread and cup of Christ, one of the class members ambled to the near center of the Chapel to sing “The Lord’s Prayer.” He sang the tune near perfectly as well as each word. Well, almost every word. When it came to the line, “Forgive us our debts…” he sang instead, “Give us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” This sounds similar, but it is of course a completely different meaning. Who wants to be given debts? I have enough, thank you very much, so I certainly do not want to go around asking for more. I have no doubt you probably feel much the same. Here was a gentleman who, one could argue, has been given his fair share of debts, physically and mentally. To my observation, he has far more...
by Greg | Aug 9, 2011 | Blog Posts
Not so long ago Amy, the boys and I headed “home” to visit my family. Due to a rather demanding summer I had not been home to visit my daddy since last May. Keep in mind that they are only just over an hour’s drive away. A visit was long overdue and greatly welcomed. At supper we sat down to the usual bowls and dishes that we each contributed to feed the masses. One platter stood out – okra, fresh from the garden and fried to perfection. It was my brother Scott’s offering. I did not know he even knew how to cook. There are several good restaurants where you can eat fried okra and most of them do a commendable job. Nothing, however, compares to homegrown okra fried the old-fashion way. It tasted like home. I thought about this a few days later when I was kneading dough in preparation for cinnamon rolls I would bake on the first day of school. The dough recipe I use is the one my grandmother shared with me when I left for seminary. Her sour dough bread was a parting gift to me when I would head back to college. In seminary I learned to bake it so that no matter how far away I lived, I could always have something that tasted like home. Perhaps one day my boys will have families of their own and share with them cinnamon rolls or Amy’s sweet potato biscuits and their taste buds will remind them of what home is like. What is it that tugs at your heart and calls you back...
by Greg | Aug 1, 2011 | Blog Posts
For owners of the MINI Cooper there is a unique culture. It is a quirky English car that has been around since 1959 and so most references to the MINI are couched in English colloquialisms. The “bonnet” is the hood; the “boot” is the trunk (yes, it has a trunk), and driving one is described as “happy motoring.” Well, after more than eight years I am out of the MINI, having traded it for a more grown-up car that can better transport my kayaks and navigate Forest Service Roads, and, quite frankly, it is easier to get in and out of without making those groaning noises. When I bought my first MINI in early 2003 it was a novelty car. For the first couple of years people would stop and ask me about the car – “What kind is it? (MINI Cooper) Who makes it? (John Cooper Motorworks) Where do you keep the clowns? (Underneath the hood, they power the motor)” Over time church members have taken great delight in gifting me with toy MINI cars not much smaller than the original. In my study at the church I counted 15 toy MINIs along my book shelves that have been given to me and there are several more similar toy cars at home. What do I do with them now? About a year after I purchased my MINI I was in a pretty bad wreck on the interstate that totaled four cars, including my own. It did such a good job protecting Amy and I in the wreck that I went straight to the dealership and ordered another and...
by Greg | Jul 6, 2011 | Blog Posts
The line is well known among Jimmy Buffett fans and the era of sun tan oils (as opposed to blocks, lotions and creams). Here along the Gulf Coast, however, it calls to mind other kinds of oil that we would rather not see. Happily, no oil is in site around St. George Island and the DeLoaches are enjoying spending some time with good friends along the beautiful beach. Mornings are spent planning what we are going to eat for breakfast. Near noon we are scrounging for lunch and most of the afternoon is dedicated to planning for supper. In between meal planning we are kayaking, sunning, catching up and slowing down. We probably are not the only ones taking a little time off this summer. July is one of the busiest months for summer travel. Many in the church are “missing in action” during this month attempting to squeeze out the rest of summer since school will be starting back in just a few weeks. I am heartened that in spite of wide-spread travel among our membership we are seeing a surge in church involvement. Choir mission trips, Vacation Bible School and Youth Camp have been some of the best ever. In a week many of our high school students will be leaving for a mission trip to Jamaica. Wonderful Wednesdays and “One-derful” Wednesdays have kept our mid week calendar full. I state all of the above to say that I am quite encouraged by the positive spirit flowing throughout this community of faith. There is much that the recession cannot touch, including our sense of being the church...
by Greg | May 18, 2011 | Blog Posts
…Or is it right? I am sure someone will clarify this tradition for me before the week is out. I am not graduating from anything, mind you, but I am proud to have a son to complete this phase of his life. I am trying hard to not sound cliché when I write that it seems like yesterday when we were taking this nine pound infant home from the hospital and immediately our lives were forevermore changed, BUT it does seem like yesterday. Like those nesting eagles I wrote about a few weeks ago, soon he will be launched from our home and into the waiting world (we do plan on changing the locks). Many of you parents are going through this too. It is a good feeling, but one that comes mixed with a little nostalgia for the past as well as some understandable regrets – there is much I would do differently if given the chance to “do-over.” Do you remember your first graduation? For most of us it was High School, as it was in my case. The dignified ceremony for Putnam County High School was held in the auditorium of Rock Eagle. I was part of an august class of 109 students. I remember next to nothing except for lumbering up and receiving my diploma and feeling as though I had just been handed a ticket to the world. That was 27 years ago and I have not seen most of my classmates since. A few have died. Many never left the dairy capitol of Georgia. Some, so I am told, moved to far parts...
by Greg | Apr 26, 2011 | Blog Posts
A couple of weeks ago a thoughtful church member shared with me the following link to an internet site: http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles. This link is to a webcam that provides live 24 hour coverage of a pair of bald eagles and their three young eaglets that hatched earlier this month. The nest is 80 feet in the air, atop a research center in far away Iowa. For the last two weeks in between writing, emails, naps and phone calls I have watched this nest of eagles feed on rabbit, survive a blanket of snow, houseclean their nest and stare icily at the hidden camera. It is a reality show like none you have ever seen on television. While the eagles laid their eggs back in late February, thirteen years ago insects all throughout the Deep South were doing the same thing. I am certain not a one of us noticed this event in our yards but now we can hear the results. Cicadas! Specifically, “Periodical Cicadas” and they are called so because they come out every thirteen years. The males give off a steady “buzz” during the day that at times sound like a pulsating hum. Their empty shells can be found clinging tenaciously to leaves, stems and bark. Eagles and cicadas and spring time in general remind us that the earth is alive and new life abounds. God is not just about doing new things in nature, but I believe is working for newness in each and every life. That is one of the lessons that we are reminded of in the Easter season. Like the cicadas that are leaving...
by Greg | Apr 13, 2011 | Blog Posts
For some spring break is just another date on the calendar or a memory of a seasonal vacation no longer observed. For many, however, it is a brief window of opportunity to get away or at least change the pace. How did you spend your spring break? Did you go to the beach and get a pre-summer tan? Did you don mouse ears and skip through the Magic Kingdom of Disney World? Did any of you stay home and work on your garden, planting tomatoes and peppers and such? I am sure many from our church here in Augusta found some time and opportunity to cross the bamboo boundary and watch some exciting golf. While my two sons worked long hours related to The Masters and earned some “walking around” money, I spent my spring break walking along the Appalachian Trail (AT). My walking was more like huffing and puffing along a section of rolling mountains in the southwest North Carolina. The AT is a marked hiking trail in the eastern United States extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. It is approximately 2,181 miles long. I have hiked all of Georgia’s section and much of North Carolina’s part. In order to hike the entire trail, however, you will need more than a spring break because it will take about six months to cover the distance. This is “thru-hike” season which means those desiring to hike the trail need to leave Georgia between March 15 and April 15 if they want to make it to Mt. Katahdin before Maine closes access on October 15. During my...
by Greg | Mar 3, 2011 | Blog Posts
It seems like a distant memory now, even though it was less than two weeks ago. On top of a mountain with my family, we were doing something Amy and I never dreamed of doing when we were our children’s ages: snowmobiling. We were in Breckenridge, Colorado and along with a small group of other vacationers we were snowmobiling along the backside of the Rocky Mountains. The temperature hovered in the teens but the sunshine was full and we were all having the time of our lives; each one of us commandeering our own snowmobile. These are powerful machines that are something like riding a four-wheeler and a jet ski combined. By the end of the afternoon my face was purple with cold, my beard was layered in frost and my grin was frozen in place. One of the great things to be enjoyed while snowmobiling is seeing parts of the mountains not accessible to skiers. There were winding trails and beatific vistas. The best view occurred near the top of one mountain. Due to the risk of avalanches we could not go to the very top, but we went as high as possible – 12,500 feet. We were above the tree line and in a simple way felt as though we were on top of the world. Soon, too soon, our time was up and it was time to not only take our snowmobiles back down the mountain, but take ourselves back home. Life has its highs and lows; this we know all too well. For a time in my life I worked feverishly to create and then...
by Greg | Feb 2, 2011 | Blog Posts
Which do you think is easier to believe? To believe in what you do not have or to believe in what is hoped for? We know what we do not have and it is usually in the category of never enough. It is quite another thing to believe in something that is only a hope. We have two great stories in the Bible: one in the Hebrew Scriptures of the wilderness wanderings of the children of Israel and the other of the hungry crowd pressing in on Jesus. Both stories involve hunger and both stories involve feeding and both stories deal with a stronger belief in what they do not have instead of what is hoped for. Israel had been led out into the wilderness to escape their Egyptian captors. They came to believe, however, that they were led out to starve. “The rabble among them had a strong craving; and the Israelites also wept again, and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” (Numbers 11:4-6) They came to despise God’s provision of manna, also called “bread of heaven,” and all they saw was their scarcity, what they did not have. Now glance ahead through the centuries and through your books in the Bible to this story in John. In fact this particular story is told in all four Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke as well...
by Greg | Jan 10, 2011 | Blog Posts
Living in Georgia all of my life, I have had very few snow days, so nearly every one of them is memorable. I can easily recall one winter ice storm when I was a little boy that took down power lines and waited along with befuddled dairy cows needing badly to be milked for Georgia Power to restore our electricity. Even now, where school is a fading distant memory, there is a bit of hopeful anticipation to see if our school will be cancelled. Throughout Sunday we tracked on television and on the internet the progress of the cold front that was promising to bring us snow, ice and sleet from the heavens. Some, especially those that work outside, saw this as an ominous foreboding. Others, especially students, saw this as a gift from the Creator. I saw this as a nice diversion. Getting up at my usual hour Monday morning I soon found out that there would be no hospital visits, Rotary Club, or a staff meeting on my agenda. I could not even see our road. Instead, it would be lots of hot coffee, intervals outside with the family, and working by way of the laptop for most of the day. Wet, mushy, thick and cold – snow day! What is so special about a fresh snowfall that even the most cynical among us cannot refuse? Is it the wonderful blanket of silence that morning snow leaves or those mysterious tracks left behind by some bird, rabbit or squirrel cutting across the yard and into the woods? Have you ever watched a sunset surrounded by snowfall? Breathtaking....
by Greg | Jan 5, 2011 | Blog Posts
How do you begin a journey? Do you have to have all the details worked out before making that first step or do you just tromp ahead and let the surprises be the point? Amy is a planner and loves to make (and strictly abide by) lists. I, on the other hand, tend to just plunge ahead, impulsive and at times foolish. Last week Amy and I “tromped” into the New Year by making a small journey of sorts. My beloved and I hiked five miles through nearly a foot of snow near the Amicalola Falls in North Georgia and then spent a cozy night at the Len Foote Hike Inn. You can only access this inn by hiking in and hiking out. Perhaps the term “inn” is a bit generous. It is rustic, bare-bones, and no-frills. They do provide a hot meal at night and one more in the morning before sending us back out into the snow to hike back down the mountain. It was a lovely way to close out the year and prepare for the start of a new year. In this particular jaunt, Amy depended on me for the details since I do most of the hiking and backpacking. Wanting to make a good impression, I worked a bit harder on some of the details and she, likewise, trusted me with some of the surprises. Fortunately our surprises were mostly positive and even when things were less pleasant than planned (like frigid temperatures in our bunk room) we made plans to adjust (I brought a winter sleeping bag that was warm and toasty). In...
by Greg | Dec 22, 2010 | Blog Posts
This Sunday, December 26, instead of our live broadcast of the worship service, we will broadcast the music special “A Festival of Carols” performed by our Church Choir and Orchestra. This was a special evening of music and worship on December 12th, now available to those who will otherwise be unable to attend worship this Sunday. The broadcast will be at 11 AM on WRDW, this...
by Greg | Dec 21, 2010 | Blog Posts
For years I have attempted to convince my sons that “they” wanted a telescope for Christmas. Year after year, however, no telescope would be on their list for Santa. Finally they took the hint and about four years ago they gave me a telescope for Christmas. I admit that I do not use it that often – it is a bit cumbersome to carry and delicate to set up – but when I do I am not disappointed at what I see, even when it is at two o’clock in the morning. Two o’clock in the morning is a time on my clock that I almost never see. It is too “late” for me to stay up and too “early” for me to start the day. Yet on Tuesday, at 2 AM Amy and I were awake and shivering in the front yard peering through my telescope. Yes, we were one of those eccentrics who actually got up to watch the lunar eclipse. This, as you have no doubt read by now, was not just any lunar eclipse. According to NASA this was the first time a total lunar eclipse occurred on the winter solstice since 1638. As a result, the moon appeared “very high in the night sky, as the solstice marks the time when Earth’s axial tilt is farthest away from the sun.” This will not happen again until 2094, and by then I will be 128 and my eyes will in all likelihood be too weak to view the eclipse! The eclipsed moon reflected the earth’s own reflection of the sun rising and setting all over...
by Greg | Dec 14, 2010 | Blog Posts
Recently on NPR I listened to a report of a billboard advertisement near the Lincoln Tunnel in New York. It depicted a nativity scene, a star and three wise men with the message: “You know it’s a myth,” courtesy of a group called American Atheists. Not to be outdone there is now another billboard sponsored by a religious organization with the same scene but with the message: “You know it’s real.” I am not sure what these competing billboards cost, but I am certain the money could have been put to better use. What is it about this season that leads many believers and unbelievers into an unofficial war on Christmas? There is more than a little debate concerning what we should call Christmas in the public. Do you own a Christmas tree or a Holiday tree? Do you wish your friends, even those that are not even Christian, merry Christmas or Seasons Greetings? When you think about it, this is really not new. In the days of the Second World War Americans were scribbling on cards, and scrawling on storefronts the words “Merry X-Mas.” It has sort of fallen out of vogue to use that abbreviation because it sounds as though we are dropping the Christ out of Christmas. But maybe what we are seeing today is different. After all, it seems far more intentional, more contrived to rename our trees, our customs so that Christmas is dropped in favor of more sanitized names. So children in the public school are out on Winter holidays instead of Christmas holidays; soldiers are depicted in the media wishing “Seasons Greetings”...
by Greg | Dec 8, 2010 | Blog Posts
…there were radios. Sitting on a shelf of our bookcase at home is an old Philco Transitone radio. I remember it sitting on top of the kitchen counter alongside the coffee pot and beside the wooden rocking chair where Papa would sit after the evening chores at the barn. Eventually, I am not sure when, it stopped working and was tucked away in a closet, forgotten but thankfully not discarded. I salvaged it years later and now keep it as a nostalgic and sentimental reminder of a simple farmhouse and two hardworking grandparents. My grandmother told me that they purchased the radio right after electricity, thanks in large part to Franklin D. Roosevelt, was made available in rural Putnam County. The year was 1941 and the radio was their first major purchase of an electrical appliance. According to my research the purchase price was $12.95 – about $198.34 today, which for dairy farmers was an extravagant price. This luxury allowed my family to listen at nights to the Atlanta Crackers baseball team. (If you have never heard of the Atlanta Crackers baseball team then you are probably not from Georgia or you are under 40 years old). I am sure they also listened to morning farm reports, daily news, and social events happening around the state. Maybe they even listened to a little music, although I do not have a memory of hearing music come out of its Bakelite shell. I am writing this particular article on December 7, so I am wondering if they learned of the attack on Pearl Harbor by way of that radio. I have...
by Greg | Nov 30, 2010 | Blog Posts
Once again I am proud to tout in this esteemed article that we have a beautiful Christmas tree in our Living/Family/Herding room. It is a Frazier Fir, ten feet tall and full all around. In keeping with tradition we purchased the tree a few days after Thanksgiving and soon filled it with endless strands of lights and Christmas ornaments that are kooky but special. We have enjoyed the tree ever since. Once again we have the same small problem that nags us every year: the tree is leaning. I have tried everything to remedy the problem. I have readjusted the stand; trimmed limbs; prayed over it and now I am just trying to ignore the tilt altogether. Our evening dialogue goes something like this: “Honey, the tree is leaning,” says Amy. “No it is not,” I reply, “your eyes are just tilted. The tree looks fine.” And then to add a final statement assuring authority on the subject I say, “Besides, it looks more natural leaning like it is.” Eventually I start brooding. I cannot blame it on the tree and the stand seems to be working fine. Our house is not leaning. This is just one more thing that goes along with Christmas: even the best Christmas plans fall short of perfection. Is your Christmas perfect? I am sure it is not. Not only do trees lean and strands of light fizzle out, but people disappoint, illness sets in, and the unexpected and unplanned lands at the doorstep. When we try to pretend that we can pull off the “perfect” Christmas, watch out – not only will the...
by Greg | Nov 17, 2010 | Blog Posts
A week ago Amy and I visited the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. For months I have wanted to see the special exhibit of Salvador Dali’s paintings, so I was excited when the opportunity finally arrived. Amy has devotedly indulged me over the years. She attended her first (and last) opera with me; backpacked (again, her first and last time) with me in the mountains; and traipsed with me through many, many museums. On this particular sojourn she went primarily to give me company. “Dali,” she confidently exclaims, “is just too weird for me.” Dali is many things: eccentric, ostentatious, showy, and, I will give Amy this one, weird. Yet his paintings are technically good and a marvel to view. Some of them are layered with meanings and others, I am convinced, are just…odd. Dali’s work is often classified as surrealism. In Dali’s case, his paintings were an expression of philosophical, religious, and scientific beliefs juxtaposing striking images. I suppose one of the reasons I like Dali is that he helps me look at the world differently and things are not always what they seem to be. There is more than meets they eye. When we finished walking through the many galleries, carefully reading along the way the explanations of certain paintings as well as background material on Dali, I asked Amy with a grin, “What did you think?” She gave a one word reply, “Weird.” The things we do for love. Love underlines all our gratitudes: Love for family, neighbors and friends Love for church, members, and mission Love for this country’s freedoms and those who serve...
by Greg | Nov 10, 2010 | Blog Posts
A month or so ago we had a “small” construction project at our house. We replaced our front wooden steps with brick ones. The wooden ones had a distinct slant southward, with narrow steps. Structurally and aesthetically they needed to go. Now that all the bricks have been placed we have in our possession about a ton or so of leftover sand. My boys are too old for a sandbox and Amy finds it unbecoming when I play in the large pile with my Tonka trucks so I am in the midst of relocating the sand pile from the front yard to the back. I do not own a backhoe, a trailer, or a tractor. I do, however, own a wheelbarrow. A couple of weekends ago I decided to take on the pile, one wheelbarrow load at a time. Twenty-six loads later, the pile looks pretty much the same as when I started. I am not sure when I will reach the bottom of the sandbox, but all I can do is focus on this one wheelbarrow load at a time. Do you ever face anything in your life that is, at least at first glance, overwhelming? There will always be the sink full of dirty dishes or the basket overflowing with laundry, but there are also bigger “chores” before us that are far more ominous. It is the drip of an IV delivering a cocktail of chemotherapy; it is the mounting anxiety of a diminished paycheck and escalating expenses; it is caring for an aging parent or raising a rebellious child. There are many days I just do...
by Greg | Oct 6, 2010 | Blog Posts
Since the end of summer I have waited and watched for the telling signs of fall. For me it comes not on a calendar or from the turning of leaves, but the steady drop in temperatures. The morning air is now far less humid and definitely chillier. Now is the time to lug down the backpack from the attic and clean out last spring’s debris. I have restocked it with appropriate food, gear, and the like. Tomorrow I am heading up to the north Georgia Mountains and meet a friend to hike and camp for a few days along a short section of the Appalachian Trail. Sometimes when I backpack I blaze along clicking off miles and making good “progress” but failing to really see what is around me. There are other times, however, when I am more obedient to the pleasures of faithful watching. Faithful watching comes by staring hard at something until your neck aches. We see sacredness when we faithfully watch and abide. Many of the beautiful displays in this universe are only rewarded by our vigilant watching. Some years ago I was out backpacking with a few other friends and we ended up one evening on the top of Mt. Laconte in North Carolina. The temperatures had dropped once the sun set but the skies were crystal clear. Someone mentioned among the four of us that there was suppose to be a meteor shower that night, so all four of us sprawled on our backs on the top of an open rock face and stared deep into the night sky. Only through faithful gazing did...
by Greg | Sep 28, 2010 | Blog Posts
I know that it is now officially Fall, but it has been a while since I updated my reading list so I thought I would share a list of the books I read this summer. As with all other such post lists, some of these books I intensely enjoyed and others, well, I probably will not read again. Non-Fiction 52 Loaves: One Man’s Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning, and a Perfect Crust by William Alexander. As a bread baker I was intrigued with the title of this book and was entertained from beginning to end with the author’s near obsessive interest in baking the perfect loaf of peasant bread. This was certainly no “how to” book, yet I learned much more about the art of bread baking including yeasts, flour, and a good oven. A Place of My Own: The Architecture of Daydreams, Michael Pollan. I read this during my sabbatical leave it coincidently complimented by visual journey it Rome. Part memoir and part journalistic, Pollan reflects on the purpose and aesthetics of a shelter. The Snow Leopard, by Peter Matthiessen. This is a classic piece of modern nature writing first written in the 1970s. It is the interior reflection of one man’s journey – sojourn? – in the foot of the Himalayas for the snow leopard as well as the search for the self. Iron John, by Robert Bly. Minnesotan poet Robert Bly wrote this insightful text which literally fueled a “men’s movement” in the 1990s. I first read this book twenty years ago and picked it up again this summer. What a difference it is to read...
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