A Great Day

Today was June 9th, 2008 and it will go down in the story of my life as a great day.

My old pal Dennis Parks called me a couple of weeks ago and asked me to play in the Leeman Bennett Celebrity Golf Classic scheduled for today. I accepted at first and then later changed my mind because of things I had to do at work. Dennis's administrative assistant would not hear of it and quickly changed my mind for me ... and I am overjoyed that she did.

When I discovered that Dan Reeves would be our celebrity for the tournament, I realized that I would be missing out on a great treat if I cancelled.

Our team won first place in the tournament and all five of us were "gettin' it done" on the golf course today. Our combined score was 20 under par ... with 1 par, 14 birdies and 3 eagles. My back felt uncharacteristically "loose" today and I was striping my drives. On several occasions I even out-drove Brian Wallace and Rick Northen ... and that's saying a lot. Big Denny was sinking puts beyond description and Coach Reeves was like a machine with all of his drive going "straight down the middle" and his short-game was beyond compare. WE HAD FUN!

If you have never met Coach, then your life is not complete. He is the perfect gentleman and he loves to tell "stories" of his life on the gridiron. In addition, I will be stealing many of his jokes for my personal use in the future. He told us over and over that this was the best team on which he had ever played in a golf scramble. I think he had as much fun as we did and we look forward to doing this all over again ... maybe in next year's tourney.

Coach Bennett was his usual classy self and was a gracious host for the tourney and the folks at the Polo Golf and Country Club had the course in pristine condition.

Big thanks again to my ole' buddy Dennis Parks for being one of the sponsors of this tourney and for putting our foursome together.




pictured left to right: Dennis Parks, George Goddard, Dan Reeves, Rick Northen, Brian Wallace.

A Great Day Indeed.

The Mountains Come Alive

This winter was especially bitter in the mountains. There seemed to be much more wind, freezing temperatures, ice and snow than usual ... or maybe I was just there more this winter than previous winters.

It is always such an amazing blessing to see the mountains come alive with greenery. The once bare trees begin to burst forth with the new forming leaves as I continue to clear the old ones off the roads and drainage ditches.




I just thought, since I haven't blogged in a while, that I would post a few pics I have taken this spring. The orange flowers are wild azaleas (these blooms don't last very long) that are most prolific on the upper stretches of our mountain, although there are some in the lower portions. The mountain laurel seems to bloom
everywhere and they last most of the summer.






As I have stated many times before ... this place is a great respite from the city.

The Malediction of Pastor Wright

By now, we have all heard or read "pastor" Jeremiah Wright's malediction on the people of America! Barak's "uncle" did not scream these words from the village square (where he could be debated) but rather from the pulpit of a "church"!

This Easter Sunday, at the close of the service, my pastor pronounced the benediction (good word) to the people of Christ:

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."

This is quite the opposite of what "pastor" Wright pronounced upon the people (the bad word) ... invoking the damnation of God upon His people. It is as if he asked God to turn His face and grace from us and to give us strife.

True Christianity teaches that we are unable to keep the 10 Commandments and that our fickle efforts at establishing our own righteousness will fall far short. We begin to see who we really are - depraved men and women who cannot merit the Lord's forgivensss for "by the deeds of the Law will no one be declared righteous"! Scripture also teaches us that by believing through faith in the finished work of Christ, His righteousness is imputed to us ... not "infused"! Knowing this helps us to be merciful ... hence the benediction's pronouncement.

To "pastor" Wright, I would repeat the words of Paul to the Galatians: "But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?"

"The 10 Commandments are fulfilled on one word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

A true pastor would exhibit true fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

I recently read an article by Tom Ascol in "Tabletalk" and a few of his words are worth repeating:

"Self-deception is an insidious condition. You will never meet a person who knows that he is self-deceived. By definition, those ensnared are completely unaware that they are."

The Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed was drawn up in the face of Arianism (which denied the diety of Christ). Arius, an elder in Alexandria in Egypt in the 300's, taught that God CREATED Jesus and then the two of them together created the world. This resulted in making the Son a created being (like humans) and not God in any sense. Alexander, the bishop of Alexandria, finally sent for Arius and questioned him about his position, but Arius stuck to his belief and was excommunicated by a council of Egyptian bishops. He went to Nicomedia in Asia, where he continued to write letters defending his position. Emperor Constantine summoned a council of Bishops in Nicea and in 325 a majority of Bishops repudiated Arius and produced the first draft of the Nicene Creed. Athanasius, a successor to the aging Alexander, was the chief spokesman for the full diety of Christ. The Arian position continues to be espoused in our day by the Watchtower Society (the JW's) who count Arius as a great witness to the truth.

In churches today that use a liturgy, this creed is often repeated in order to show the continuity of the Church. It is a way that Christians can reach back in time to our brothers and sisters in the faith who fought for the truth. The purpose of having a liturgy is to keep man out of the worship, because if we get half a chance, we will certainly turn the worship inward.

So the point of history is this: The Nicene Creed was produced to combat the Arian heresy and repeating it often is a way to keep us from falling into error.


We believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God,
begotten of his Father before all worlds,
God of God, Light of Light,
very God of very God,
begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father;
by whom all things were made;
who for us and for our salvation
came down from heaven,
and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary,
and was made man;
and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered and was buried;
and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures,
and ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father;
and he shall come again, with glory, to judge both the living and the dead;
whose kingdom shall have no end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son;
who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified;
who spoke by the prophets;
and we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church;
we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins;
and we look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen

CHANGE

Everywhere one turns today, we hear the word "Change"! Barak is the candidate of change! Businesses go through change! Americans say that we must change the way we view things! People take classes because that have a desire to grow (change)! "I'm divorcing you, honey, because I need to experience more of life so that I can grow" is an oft uttered statement. No one is content where one is ... we must change! Change! Change! Change! Get on the wagon of change or you'll be left behind.

Two ancient philosophers had some thoughts about this:

1. Hericlitus: Whatever is, is changing! The only reality is change itself! One cannot step into the same river twice ... water and sand are moving ... it does not stay the same. If everything we interact with is constantly changing we can never know anything about it because once we learned anything about it, it would change and become something else.

2. Parmenides: Whatever is, IS! Of all the problems of philosophy truth is the most elusive because reasoning, to be of any value must begin with truth. It cannot create truth. What is could never be derived from what is not. That would be absurd. Therefore what is could never have not been. What is, also, could never become what is not, so what is can never not be in the future.

Confused!?

I work in pharmaceutical sales. A few years ago, one of the folks from "sales training" came to a sales meeting and explained that the sales training department had decided that we would be the "best trained sales force in the country"! There had been planned numerous on-line courses and seminars to help us reach this goal! I let him/her babble on for a while and finally asked him to explain exactly what being the "best trained sales force in the country" actually meant. Surely, I thought, with all of this planning, there had to be exact knowledge of our goal ... something concrete that could be clearly described. Like going on a trip and using map-quest to get exact directions. I explained to this person that since most people in the room were very intelligent and had Masters degrees or higher, we would be more than willing to expedite the reaching of this this goal, if he/she would only describe it to us! This person is no longer with the company!

I hear lots of folks today screaming at each other on talk radio about evolution, but I have never heard ANYONE say anything about what we are evolving to! If we intelligent human beings only knew what we were heading towards, we could speed up the process. Somebody just tell us please! And by the way, if we are constantly evolving how are "regressions" explained?

We cannot be changing into anything unless there is something that IS!

If there were ever a time when there was nothing ... there would still be nothing!

THE SHORTER CATECHISM is a great list of questions and answers about our ultimate reality. Three terms are brought up and defined in questions #33,#34 and #35. I will leave #33 and #34 for a later time but question #35 asks: What is sanctification? The answer is that Sanctification is the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness. In other words, those who believe are being changed into the likeness of Christ ... not that we are little gods, but simply that we are being changed into something. He is the great "I Am"!

Sanctification is what makes life make sense! There are no cosmic accidents! Everything that happens to a believer in his life serves a purpose. We may not understand it at the time, but we know that it is for our good.

To an unbeliever, life cannot possibly make any sense at all. The unbeliever must simply grit his teeth and do everything in his power to make himself as comfortable as possible during his years on earth. But, life cannot make any sense if one has no understanding of where it is all heading ... DEATH!

To a believer, death is a portal to eternal life! To an unbeliever, there is no belief in a continuum. Get all the gusto you can, because this is your one shot before you become "worm food"! In the grave where you are going, all your plans and schemes come to an end! Hold your head high in your valiant stupor, you are fooling no one but yourself.

Once again, the only way that one can be changing is because there is something that IS.

It is our only hope in this life and the next! It is in Him that we live and move and have our being!

I Wouldn't Put It Off

When I was a little boy, I remember vividly my paternal grandmother and my aunt making numerous trips to a cemetery near Columbus, Georgia. From their conversations, I realized , even as a child, that it was of utmost importance to them to keep this cemetery in pristine condition. The graves there were of family members and my grandmother obviously cared a great deal about those deceased persons. I think my aunt (Lydia) just went to help her mother in this task.

My two brothers, my sister and I have often spoken about this place and that we should plan to make a trip there to find this piece of hallowed ground. Finally, on a whim, the baby of our sibling group (Little Brucie) decided to find this place and he has also written about this experience on his blog at:

www.viewfromahearse.blogspot.com

Bruce began searching the internet (knowing that Juniper, Georgia was a town of interest) and before long not only did he find the location of this cemetery, but also a list of those buried there. When I say that he found the location ... well, I mean almost ... within Hollerin' Distance anyway!

Mac and Bruce arrived before me and did a little detective work with the aid of a few fine citizens of this area and after driving down a dirt road and treking through the woods and briars ... they found a cemetery. Bruce walked up and kicked off the leaves and debris from the first grave and lo and behold ... he had located the final resting place of our great-grandfather ... A. C. McCoy Jr.. Right next to him was the grave of his wife, who had died in her 30's. Our great-grandfather lived over 50 years after her death and never remarried. We wouldn't have known this fact had we not visited this cemetery. I have read letters that my grandmother Lucy wrote to other family members after her father's (A.C.McCoy) death. Her mood was melancholy and she spoke of him as a very "sweet" person. ("sweet" is a southern term if you didn't know). Now I think I know why it was so important to her to maintain this graveyard. In addition, Lucy's grandparents were buried there also.




It has now become important to Lucy's grandchildren (Mac, Kikky, George and Bruce) to maintain this family cemetery also. We'll have to find the present owner of the large piece of land and get his permission to come and go, but from what the locals tell us, we don't think that will be a problem. We gave it our best attempt to clean-up the place but quickly realized that we needed professional help. We are making plans for that also.

The grave markers for our great grandparents there were of first-class quality. My older brother, Mac, stated that he bet Lucy forced my grandfather, George, to spend the money and we noted that they are the exact same type of markers that are in another family cemetery in Macon. Understand, that our family has been in the funeral business for over 150 years.

Why is this event even worthy of a blog you might ask? Well, I'll tell you.

Whatever you plan to do with your life ... do it! Not a few weeks from now, but do it today! And if you think you are so important that the world will be devastated when you die ... get over it! And within a few years of passing, no one will even realize that you ever lived. Now if you are a very loving, giving and loyal person(like not remarrying after your young wife dies) then maybe that tacks on a few years of post-mordem "caring", but at the most, in one generation, the leaves start falling and no one comes to sweep them away. Then the bushes and trees overtake the landscape and some of the local kids find this special spot in the woods to secretly indulge themselves in the illicit pleasures of life.

King Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes, "for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going"! He was right!

That family that lies buried in the ground on the remnants of this plantation gave us our grandmother and our Daddy. He was a fantastic and loving Daddy who had a thundering, velvet hand, but he didn't learn to be a "Daddy" by reading a book ... this talent was passed through the generations.

This cemetery is not lost anymore.

Advice To Graduates

The great thing about blogging is that one can write about anything one wishes!

During this past week, I was talking with a physician friend of mine during a work meeting and we got on the conversation of the expectations of our youth ... those graduating from high school and college ... and that most really have no clue as to how difficult it is to make a living and support a family in this present age. Their skulls of mush have been filled with all of the postmodern "crap" that the public (government) schools have forced into their collective craniums. Somehow, most kids have collectively come to the conclusion the the "right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" is a certainty that the world (or government) owes them. Boy will they be disappointed!

We remembered the high school graduation speech the Bill Gates gave a few years back giving advice to recent graduates. I decided to look it up and to share it with my physician friend and then I figured I might as well put it into the blog.

Bill Gate's speech is timeless and every recent graduate should read it! Gates talked about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule #1: Life is not fair ... get used to it!

Rule #2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule #3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car-phone until your earn both.

Rule #4: If you think you teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule #5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping ... they called it opportunity.

Rule #6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule #7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule #8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule #9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule #10: Television is NOT real life. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule #11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

(IF YOU CAN READ THIS, THANK A TEACHER! IF YOU ARE READING IT IN ENGLISH, THANK A SOLDIER)

Dear Abby's Readers And Postmodernity

In today's paper (2/5/08) was an interesting Dear Abby column. Someone had written her in October and asked what she perceived to be the main problem in today's society. She responded but later she asked the readers to respond to this query. Abby exclaimed that the "roof fell in" with comments.

One, in particular, got my attention. It came from "Marilyn in the garden state".

I quote: "Society's greatest problem is intolerance. It breeds all the other problems. We're intolerant of other people's views, religions, looks, sexual orientation, languages, mode of dress, career choice, whether to parent - or not. We're in the business of NOT minding our own business".

Marilyn my dear, you are the poster-child for postmodernity. There should be pictures of you hanging all over America to remind our citizens of what has happened to our culture.

We live in a society that has no "tolerance" for transcendent truth; therefore, relativism has taken over our culture. Everyone does what is right in his own eyes with little concern for what is "right" in a transcendent sense. We have "value systems" instead of morals. We have "situational ethics" instead of virtue!

The result is a politically correct world where groups and sub-groups of people have backed into their respective corners and are demanding that everyone recognize their "rights"! This has caused our society to be more marginalized or "tribalized" than ever before. Our nation is more divided today than ever in history and the result of all of this "tribalization" is the opposite of the unity that these "tolerant" people sought to create.

All of this "tolerance" is certainly a harbinger of what is yet to come. Valuing "tolerance" would be great as long as those who espouse this view are "tolerant" of those who dissent ... such as Christians (as stated by Sir Arnold Toynbee).

If everyone does what is right in his own eyes, we will have anarchy ... not unity.

Obituaries

I recently read in the opinion pages of the Asheville, NC paper a little article about obituaries and the interesting "facts" one can find in them. Carol Currie pointed out several things that make them so interesting to those of us who are moving on in age.

My mother-in-law LOVES reading obituaries! She subscribes to and reads six newspapers and then listens to the death reports on the local radio station. For a while, I sorta giggled at her, but now I have found myself thumbing through any newspaper I can get my hands on with some sense of macabre excitement to read all the details. Hanging around my mother-in-law for the past 17 years has even caused me to change my greeting to friends and co-workers that I see daily. "How are you?", they ask? "Well, I checked the obituaries this morning and mine wasn't there, so I guess I'm doing OK!"

Just a few years ago, obituaries used a somewhat standard format, but things have changed. An old friend of mine died a few months ago and his widow wrote an essay about him. I realized that I didn't know him as well as I should.

Some are short and to the point: "John Doe died at his home Thursday and arrangements are being made by "Digs, Graves and Bury Funeral Home".

Some folks pass away, some just pass, some are deceased and some have gone to be with the Lord. Some are in a better place???? ( I reckon that depends on where you were to begin with)! "We lost Grandma last week" someone said. I was wondering if they had been at a big sale at a Super WalMart ... I could certainly understand how Grandma could get lost there. "No", they exclaim. "She was sleeping in her bed and I went to get something to eat and when I got back ... she was GONE"! "Surely someone could find her if she is just wandering around", I thought! THE TRUTH IS THAT SHE IS DEAD! DEAD AS A HAMMER! But folks cannot bring themselves to say or write the word ... dead!

Some obituaries list the several churches where the deceased served his fellow man for years. "He was a member of Bedside Baptist Church for 40 years and served as a deacon for 30 of those years"! (sounds like the preacher found his liquor cabinet and fired him)! Some folks are religious but just nominally .... "He was a Methodist"! What does that mean? He was like the kamikazi pilot in WWII who went on 10 missions ... he was involved but not very committed! I pity the poor soul that has no preacher to direct the funeral service.

One has been employed by Williard's Widget Company for 45 years and was a "fixture in the community". Some are listed by trade ... "He was a carpenter."

The age is always listed ... "John Smith, 55, passed away suddenly at his home Saturday". What troubles me is when you see a picture of a young person and an age listed of 16 or 17. If the obituary tells us that a young person died, it should be a law that the cause of death be listed also.

Today, web sites are listed where friends can go to and leave their condolences ... it is a lot of trouble to take a shower, get dressed and actually go to a funeral home.

Some obituaries give thanks to the doctors and nurses at the hospital that gave such tender care. Some thank all of their friends who "gave so much of themselves during our time struggle"!

Well, now you see. My mother-in-law has caused me to get addicted also. With all of the nasty politics that fill the editorial pages today, the obituary section is a welcome respite in a world gone mad.

We are really hard-up for something to do.

God help us all.

Never To Early to Heed the Warning

Lately, I have been ranting about what Christmas has become in this secularized culture, but there are other things on my mind also!

Many folks, when gathered with friends and family during the Christmas season, make plans for their summer vacations. It's a perfect time to get a handle on where everyone likes to go.

Caution:

If you prefer a vacation at the beach, PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO WEAR SUNCREEN!

This has been a public service announcement.

I hope it was useful.