Independence Day - Here's What We Did

True to the wishes of John Adams, we solemnized the 4th of July with ". . . .Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more." or at least portion of those festivities.

It was yard work for Saturday as our highly socialized daughter had some activities to attend.  Then sensing my ever-growing need for family adventure, Mom proposed a surprise event.

My outlook being so low, I was given the privilege of being "in the dark" on the plans and destination, just like the other kids - the anticipation is 80% of the fun!

When our family truckster pointed toward Cave Spring, a small town near us that held a small fireworks event each year, the kids and I were pretty certain that we had discerned the plans and were fairly confident in our surmising.  That is until we turned right toward Alabama and left behind the small mass of gathering people perspiring in the evening sun.

The secret was almost revealed when the Google Map R. had printed (we are not utilizing GPS technology at this point - primarily because I cannot stand one more voice telling me what to do when I'm driving) was unclear in its directions.  R. called in reinforcements from someone who had been to our unknown destination and we got back on track.

About dusk we arrived at the 411 Twin Drive-In in Centre, Alabama.

Until I saw the plywood screen looming on the horizon, I hadn't figured it out.  This was a great adventure, since it marked my first visit to a drive-in movie.  As you may recall, my upbringing was sheltered and within the confines of some fairly strict religious codes.  We didn't attend movies (except on two occasions when my school went and my teacher who attended church with us said it was probably okay) - but that didn't stop me from straining every ocular muscle I had to view the screens and read the lips of the actors when we occasioned to drive past one.

Anyway, we were please at the laid back family atmosphere of the place and the busy snack bar (with a "96" score on their Health Dept. inspection).  With Mom and I seated comfortably in our outdoor chairs, and the kids nestled cozily in their bean-bag chairs in the back of the SUV, we enjoyed Cars 2 - despite the political implications.

Sunday evening, AA and I made good on one of those plans we had for a couple of summers... to attend a race at a local 1/2 mile dirt track.
Another father and son tandem - friends of ours- were going and knew their way around, so when they asked us to go, we agreed.

I liked the free-wheeling nature of the race track - we brought in our own snacks, refreshments, chairs etc. That "free-wheeling" attitude also extended to tobacco products.  While I think it is very disingenuous for legislation upon legislation to be passed restricting tobacco use in public - while it is still a legal substance and while tobacco products are also the source of an enormous amount of tax revenue; I also enjoy not having to breathe the smoke and not having to watch my step for fear that my flip-flops may bog down into a puddle of Red Man.
We also were witness to a nice assortment of tattoos.

There was something thrilling though about the races, being that close and literally feeling the roar of the engines.  It was quite an experience.
Because of the growing roster of participants and delays due to accidents, the night ran a little long.  AA was quite a sport when he agreed to leave early even though there was at least one more race to go.  It was after midnight, by the time we got home and showered the red Georgia clay off our sweaty bodies.

The actual 4th of July saw us making a trek to West Georgia to walk in an annual "Peoples Parade".

After a "Patriotic Breakfast" (note the Red, White and Blue)

...we hit the road.
We weren't certain about transportation arrangements, so I began to prepare the troops for the possibility of our having to retrace our steps back over the parade route after it was over.  This would be approximately 6.36 miles we would have to walk in total.

Mom found that her typically demure nature was overridden by her sense of urgency toward sacrifice avoidance.  With the same zeal that she displayed when she inquired about her epidural of every hospital employee that darkened the door of our first delivery room when Ab was getting ready to arrive - she seemed to feel little discomfort in approaching various individuals to ask about providing us transportation back to our car.

When the parade began, we were issued Frisbees and candy mints to distribute. . . .

...and the crowd didn't mind asking for them... in fact they became a little demanding at times. 

 - And that was the adults!
5,000 Frisbees, that's about how many we distributed....

 ...by the time we reached the halfway point of the parade, we thought our names were "Frisbee!".

It really was an exciting morning and a proper way to celebrate this nation!

Other weekend hours were spent in yard work, sitting by the pool, bicycling, eating, worshipping and visiting.

We managed to get my Mom over for some grilling on the night of the 4th.

So I think we almost ran the gamut toward satisfying the respectable Mr. Adams wishes.

I hope your 4th of July weekend was equally memorable.

RepreZENT-ehn

My senator is a gang member wannabe.


Maybe he heard that the Bloods  and the Crips had formed their own constituency group.


For years it seems he has had a yearning to slick back his duck tail and don the trappings of one or another Senate Gang.

You've heard of the various senate gangs.  Being apparently void of any imagination, they tend to call them by numbers:  Gang of 14, Gang of 12, Gang of 10, Gang of 6 ....

Those last two, they are the ones my senator - Saxby Chambliss - has been involved with; in fact, word on the street is that he possibly now runs the Gang of Six.

And just what is that these gangs do?

Well we don't really know, but it appears that they meet somewhere in the cavernous catacombs of Washington establishment and wield power.  Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, once referred to one of these gangs as the "Masters of the Universe".

I think they are supposed to be revered as a somehow more elite microcosm of the entire senate.  Select statesmen endued with a more immense portion of that Senatorial magic dust  known as compromise.

In reality, they are often a roadblock to any real progress.  It was Senator McCain's Gang of 14 that stymied what appeared to be the semblance of manhood among the Republican 109th Senate. 

Then Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist (R-Tenn) was poised to actually make a stand against Democrat filibuster threats that were holding up Presidential judicial appointees in an unprecedented way.  Then came the Gang of 14 and mired up the works. 
The frailty of that majority and their unwillingness to stand and fight for right principles led to their dissolution in the following election cycle.

That's what senate gangs do: unlike street gangs- they stop fights.  They muddy up the waters and add additional confusing layers to an already leviathan-like process.

Sometimes people in leadership should make a principled stand for what's right.

I have expressed that sentiment in communications with my senator.  His Gang of 10 pretty much stalemated action on drilling for oil that last time gas prices got up around $4.  The crisis abated briefly and now we are back to higher and higher gas prices, because no one made a stand for the right.

Frankly, I don't know what his current gang is doing, but you can bet it wreaks of compromise and at best it's result will be futile.

Before he "fell in with the wrong crowd" I was really proud of my senator from Georgia.  He was a strong voice in favor of President Bush's military policy and tax cuts.

But he began to slip, in my estimation, when he hesitated far too long before coming out against the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007.  Then he really "tore his britches" with me when both he and Johnny Isaakson (our other Georgia Senator) voted for TARP I. 

It was the Republican version of nationalizing industries.

He defended his actions then - owing to his own private knowledge as a Senator of just how bad the crisis might have been.  To my knowledge, he has never recanted.

Now it seems he is lost to the mob; doomed to a political career of initiations and rumbles.  However, the only fatalities in this brand of gang-bang war tend to be progress toward a brighter future for America.  At least they are not a violent bunch... they don't pack heat or employ switchblades - they just talk things to death.

Yes, my senator is a gangster.

I guess we can't really blame him for going astray... it's not all his fault; it's the company he keeps.
Why in our capitol it has become perfectly acceptable - even fashionable- to gang up in small groups  ...away from the public eye ... and make a lot of decisions based on compromise and "one hand washing the other", then to emerge and inflict your decisions on the republic.

We used to have folks that would stand up for "we the people"... in fact our system was designed that way.  The Judicial system would check the power of the other two branches if they didn't police one another.  That failing, we had the Republicans or even some Democrats (long, long ago) who would stand up for common sense and truth.  Finally, we had the press - the "guardians of the public trust" - but no more.

I guess its just easier to go along with the crowd, but we need someone up there to speak for us.  We don't need any more gangs in the Senate because apparently the Washington crowd is a gang all their own.  Unfortunately, many of the folks we sent there to represent us against "all enemies foreign and domestic" ...have sided with the enemies.

"Land of the Bland"

As I think about the malaise in which our nation currently finds itself, this phrase keeps rolling around in my head:

 "The land of the bland"

That seems to be the result - whether intentional or not - of liberal leadership.  In fact if you examine any socialist regime, you will always find less - not more - creativity; inspiration; beauty;hope for a future; thrift; work and less willingness to do that work.

Diminishing liberty devolves a nation from "the land of the free and the home of the brave!" to "the land of the bland".

This is evident in political-correctness-run-amok which has virtually eliminated reason and  emasculated our conversations, rendering them colorless and. . . . bland.

The beauty of art has been reduced to a gray ghetto of self-expression in which political statements - and liberal ones at that - are the only ones acceptable.  So art can be "shocking", "controversial", "cutting edge" ... but seldom "beautiful". 

Because so much emphasis is placed on the "funding" of art by the state, we have begun to believe that to be authentic, art must be government sponsored.  This allows "separation of church and state" arguments to remove the source of most art that is considered timeless - that art that reveals or expresses worship of God.

Have you viewed any contemporary art - considered acceptable to the masses - that has moved you toward anything  .  .  .  .  but repulsion?

The best we can get from the liberal-socialist direction we are headed, is blandness. 

Even economically, theirs is a goal of achieving only equality.  So a socialist regime proposes to reach a happy state only by confiscating the wealth of those who achieve - angering them; and by stirring up the anger and envy of those that have not achieved and transferring that wealth to them.  The problem being that having played no part in building that wealth - they have not learned the lessons necessary to sustaining and growing that wealth.  So in the end the "have nots" are still miserable and learn to see their only means of survival as getting more of what someone else has.  They are not inspired to achieve more and grow their own wealth; why should they?

The wealthy, on the other hand, stop doing the things that they have done in the past to build their wealth.  Why should they?  There is no use to expending energy and sacrifice toward a goal - only to have the rewards of success taken from your hands.

So everyone folds his hands and sits. 

A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to rest;
So shall your poverty come like a prowler,
And your need like an armed man.   Proverbs 24:33-34 NKJV

At it's very best the blandness of liberal economics results in equal MISERY. . . not the"pursuit of happiness" that Jefferson prescribed.

No where is the monotone blandness of the liberal mindset more evident than in political discourse.

Convinced that they have no substantive arguments on which to build their case - liberals have left off trying to sway people with logic.  Instead they have resorted to just saying the same thing over and over and over and over - even if it is illogical and wrong.

They find a phrase that they feel will evoke the proper emotion and they just say it again and again.  Draconian - that's the word that liberals always attach to any spending cut proposed by a conservative.  It sounds sort of like "Dracula" and thus it stirs up the fear and negative emotions one associates with having their very life's blood sucked out of them.  So back in the 1990's when they shut down the government - it was said to be due to draconian cuts proposed then by Newt Gingrich and the Republican congress.  They said it over and over.

Another phrase used over and over by Bill Clinton and his ilk, was "the rich paying their fair share" - this despite the fact that, at the time, the top wage earners in our nation were paying way over the majority of the taxes being collected.

In the present budget battles, Obama, Reid and the like have taken to attaching the phrase "millionaires and billionaires" to their statements bolstering the argument for raising taxes. Apparently, they think that will evoke the class envy they will need for people to buy into more ridiculous spending.

Here is a video compilation from the Huff Post - no less - that illustrates the monotony of their specious argument:

Isn't that tiring and bland?

Can you find the least amount of inspiration in it?

To further illustrate the vacuous nature of their arguments, you should know that the video was put together to be associated with an article about Obama's "lurch rightward".  It was a time in which our President was defending his action of allowing the Bush tax cuts to remain in effect another two years.  He poo-pooed tax cuts during his campaign but then defended them for a brief time - or at least portrayed them as necessary.

Now he is back to vilifying them again.

yada-yada-yada-yada-yada-yada-yada...

A Family Dispersed

Here's what's been happening lately...

Over one week ago, my little girl boarded a BIG bus....

... withOUT her family...

...and rode away into a BIG world...

Her destination?

Gunnison, Colorado and "The Great Escape". 

Ab, for some reason, has yearned to go to Colorado for a couple of years now (I think it has something to do with the fact that she goes to sleep most nights listening to Focus on the Family's "Adventures in Odyssey", with studios in Colorado). 

The Great Escape is a huge annual event at our church - the Director of Student Ministries attended when he was in middle school.  It is something of a rite of passage.  It promised to be a truly great adventure of both spiritual and life-building significance.

I am very proud of the passion and sense of adventure that Ab possesses, and think it is neat to see her setting and achieving goals.  This is a trait that I so admire in her Mom as well.

But I miss my little girl and am looking forward to her return this weekend!

AA has also missed his sister (though he doesn't admit it), so in an effort to "kill multiple birds with one stone", Mom suggested that he and I start a Father's Day Camping tradition.

R. knows that I am a sucker for traditions.

We have bumped our vacation plans to later in the year and I need a get-a-way of some sort now.  I had been rolling some plans around in my head that included camping.  I think R. saw her proposal as a means of satisfying - temporarily- my wanderlust; providing a distraction for me on the first Father's Day after losing Dad; an opportunity for AA to enjoy some adventure in his sister's absence; and most importantly - it was an opportunity for her to once again avoid getting roped into a camping trip.

As I see it, R. figures I have one camping experience - two at the most - in me, annually.  Her goal (and she's pretty good about meeting them) is to just determine out how best to avoid them.

So after clumsily planning and packing and preparing, AA and I finally ended up at "Sloppy" Floyd State Park for a one night excursion.

The kick off to our Camping Adventure was hampered by several factors:

• deciding where we would go (it is not easy to find a spot in the middle of a summer weekend without reservations)
• navigating the labyrinth of bureaucratic procedures for just figuring out if a spot is available and then obtaining it.  For instance, at one facility we were under the impression that we had to purchase a Parking Pass in order to enter the park to find out if they had a spot. They had an automated system for purchasing the passes but the machine did not give change. So we had to find a "trading post" where I purchased an onion with a twenty dollar bill in order to get change.  From there we proceeded to pay our five dollars only to learn afterward that there were no desirable vacancies (there was one spot next to the restroom - convenient but not peaceful).
• After much prayer - and frustration - we made it to "Sloppy" Floyd State Park where I was pleasantly surprised to find an attendant with a servant attitude and a welath of information. 
• We arrived at our spot - about the time a thunderstorm struck.
• After the storm and two trips into the nearby town to pick up supplies we forgot (or left in the refrigerator at home) we were finally ready to build a fire and start supper.

Like the first day of any excursion we have every made as a family - our first evening was rather tense.

All the aggravation and stress can sometimes be a part of the adventure itself and our weekend turned out to be a very good one.
So now we find ourselves in another weekend - this time we are anticipating Ab's return and the gathering together again of our scattered little family.

A Stark Difference

One of the foundational principles I have tried to  adhere to with this blog is to avoid posting things I would not want my children to read.  I want it to be safe.

For that reason, I will not be very explicit in the details surrounding all the recent news of Democrat Representative, Anthony Wiener.  Suffice it to say, he admitted to privately sending a number of inappropriate photos to women other than his wife over social media; and further admitted lying about when he accidentally posted one of those photos publicly.

Surprisingly, after his tearful admission yesterday Weiner announced that he would not be stepping down.

My point for even bringing this up is for those that constantly bemoan our political system and say that there is "not a dime's worth of difference between Republicans and Democrats".

There is.

And this case perfectly illustrates it.

How many Republicans can you think of that have been embroiled in scandal and finally admitted that allegations against them were true ... are still in office?

I can't think of any.

Republicans - while being at times fallible like the rest of us - tend to do the honorable thing.  They follow the concepts laid out by the founders and let go of power.

Democrats it seems - just can't let go.

When it comes down to it.  They will admit their failures and deceit, but they won't step down.

It is not because they are public servants; it is because - I'm afraid - they love the power.

Biking Sensations

Biking is fun again this year.

I think it was last summer that my enjoyment for riding my bicycle seemed to wane.

This year I have a new bike... it's a mountain bike.  It has a little more suspension than my old bike and balloonier tires.

I am enjoying the ride - off and on the rode.  As I mentioned in other posts, my approach to biking is different from a lot of folks:  I enjoy the speed of down hill coasting, but I am really in it to take in all the sights and sounds around me.

For this post, I thought I would list some of the sensations I have enjoyed lately:

• The thrill of spotting a Red-Winged Blackbird  lighting on a pasture fence post; surrounded by the scent of freshly mowed hay and the fading sunlight of a warm Spring day....
• On that same day, in the same pasture that is bordered by a little country road, I looked across the pasture, just in time to see a half dozen deer bounding across the crest of the field.  Like waves rolling backwards - their raised white fluffy tails forming the trailing whitecaps.
• At the end of a very hot day, where two roads intersected, I caught the faint scent of hot tar:  the kind that used to form little gooey gelatin-like puddles, on a similar intersection near my childhood home in Cedartown.  That fleeting aroma brought to mind hot summer afternoons riding our bikes in criss-crossing figure eight patterns and sifting through the finely ground pebbles at that sleepy intersection in search of the mysterious "rock-glass".  I also remember a blue bathing suit I had that forever bore the tell-tale sign of my having sat in one of those hot tar puddles.
• One evening recently, I rounded the corner of a wooded trail at a fast pace - just in time to scare up a wad of unsuspecting turkeys.  Their wings can sound monstrous in such a situation.
• I believe it was the same evening as I sped through a spot where the trail presents a somewhat smooth downhill grade through the woods and then out onto a meadow trail, my horizon was suddenly darkened by the figure of a fleeing deer as she leaped across the path clearing a fence and springing out of sight. They seem a lot bigger when they are that close and moving that fast!
• The stale smell of grass that has been cut and left to dry out in the sun can quickly send me back to our neighborhood football games in Morristown, Tennessee.  There was a vacant lot across the street from my house, pretty much the entire neighborhood would gather there often. Apparently it belonged to the couple that lived in an adjoining home.  I suppose they kept the grass cut regularly, but I never remember them telling us to get off their property.

For some folks, bicycling is serious business:  they have the proper gear.  But for me - just think what I would have missed if all I heard was my latest downloads on my MP3 player, or all I saw was my odometer or just the road ahead of me.

Gospel Summer

We are trying something new with our family devotions this summer.

We started these Sunday nite events about 5 1/2 years ago.  We are not always consistent. Sometimes devotions have quickly gone South with terse words or abrupt endings.  Sometimes they have been on the mark!

Last year went through the" Westminster Shorter Catechism"  ... because of my clumsy way of presenting it - I think it became stale at times but we got through it.

This summer, we hit upon the idea of having a "Gospel Summer".   This was partly inspired by the Emmaus Project Sunday school class R. and I attended earlier this year. In it we learned some new ways to approach the study and the teaching process.   It involves consideration of the audience, the scene changes, the repetition of terms or concepts and the like.

Our plan is to each take a Gospel with a plan for reading a few chapters each week and then explaining what we've read on Sunday nites.

Matthew was written primarily to a Jewish audience and he tied most everything to the Law or to Jewish history.  Ab, who is very concrete in her view of things - its either black or white with her... very little room for grey; she was assigned this book.

Mark was possibly written by John-Mark the youth that accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey (apparently he also abandoned the party mid trip).  This book was written to a Roman audience, so it is direct and to the point.  There is a lot of action in this book and he doesn't sweat the details; so it went to AA.  He, too is not big on details and if we are watching a movie and there is not a lot of continual action... AA is up pacing or talking or out of the room.

Mom got Luke, because more so than any other book, he seems to include the human side.  You can feel the emotions of this writing. Some say that Luke got some of his information from interviews with Mary, the mother of Jesus.

I took the Gospel of John - which sometimes seems to come from an ethereal perspective. The beginning Hymn ... "In the beginning was the Word..."   it's just poetic and beautiful.

We made assignments the first week and talked a little about how these books differed.  Then we made our first attempt at a "Gospel Summer" family discussion on this past Monday night (AA who had been to camp over the weekend was suddenly overcome by sleep before we could get to the devotion on Sunday night... see what I mean?

We have some work to do but I look forward to seeing growth in our appreciation for the Scriptures this summer.  My prayer is that both Ab and AA will come to find a great love for the Word of God this summer as the Holy Spirit brings the pages to life... in so doing, we pray that they will also come to find a greater love for the Christ of the Word.