River of Resolve

The days following September 11, 2001, were extremely dark. Scary. Sad. Uncertain. Something had entered our reality that we had never imagined.  I remember being in a daze for nearly a month.  My eating was out of control--I turned to food for comfort.  Nearly everyone I know gained weight in those days.  (Nobody was eating in restaurants, but we were pigging out at home!)  

The night following the 9/11 Memorial Telethon, I wrote a poem that I later set to music. Although it's a bit "artsy," I think it reflected the sense of unity (a somewhat militant unity, I have to admit) that seemed to characterize our whole nation in those early days.  Sadly, much of that sense of unity unraveled as weeks turned into months, months into years.

Here's the poem:

RIVER OF RESOLVE

Three hundred million broken hearts

Bleed a River of Resolve.

Her path of Holy Justice--

Heartless terror to dissolve.

She winds through hallowed rubble

And sacred shards of steel,

Invading dens of peril

With heroism's keel.

Her currents shatter hatred

With devastating flood,

While taking restitution

For pure and guiltless blood.

This River's flow is steady,

Her mighty mission true,

Her shiny surface glistens--

Shades of red and white and blue.

Her depth cannot be fathomed,

Her width cannot be breached;

Her length cannot be measured,

Her limits never reached.

Three hundred million broken hearts

In grief, have linked as one.

Resolved.  Committed.  Ready.

And only just begun.

Billy Joel performed the night of that telethon.  I think all 300 million of us were in a "New York State of Mind" that evening.

To Blog or Not to Blog

I read two blogs tonight that I really needed to read.

Kurt Goble raised a fascinating question in his post:  Have blogs been superceded by Facebook? Of course, he had a whole gang of people tell him via comment that blogs AND Facebook have their own places.  

I have been seriously considering shutting my blog down.  I feel like when I write I'm basically jabbering to myself like the woman I saw on Beach Boulevard the other day who was obviously off her meds. She was having a knockdown dragout fight with an invisible foe.  I had my car windows rolled up and I could practically hear her railing. I sometimes think blog readers occasionally stumble on my blog and get the same impression I got of Shouting Lady.

But then I read Jon Michell's great post about talking with his children about 9/11.  The concept of that difficult task never really entered my mind. We live in such a messed-up world; trying to make some sense of it for our children and grandchildren is a formidable task. 

So, I guess I'll hang with the blog thing a while longer. (At any rate, I'll keep reading OTHER people's blogs.) I keep learning all kinds of things that I never am challenged to think about on Facebook.

Emily is "Recognized"

At our church, we have had "Baby Recognition Weekend" twice a year. (We'd like to make it once a year, but we have so many babies, we may be rethinking that!) Anyway, this was the weekend, and Emily got her official recognition today. It was such a special morning. It seemed just like yesterday that Jennifer was a little girl standing on a stage reciting a line or singing a song in a children's program. Now she's up there with her great husband, holding their own child. Wow. 

 

It was powerful to hear Bruce's challenge to all the parents, encouraging them to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.  I would recommend you read Jennifer's own account of this morning...it's very moving.  

Here are a few video images--sorry about the quality.

The GEEK Bible

For all my Geek friends....there is spiritual hope!!!

Is It Just Me and My Computers. . . ?

I was just reading Kristi's EIGHTEEN comments on her blog about Haley's sleep issues.

Thought my eyes were going to weld together because I was squinting so hard to read them. 

What's up with Blogspot that the comment fonts are so teeny tiny all of a sudden?

I click the "make text larger" button under the View tab.  Then when I return to the actual blog, it's like reading the top lines of an eye chart!!!  The system designer needs to reset the comments default font.  I thought at first I'd accidentally done it myself on my laptop, but it's on all three (occasionally four) computers that I use.

HELP!  I'm going blind here!!!!

VERY interesting thought . . .

This morning I was listening to Dennis Prager as I drove from the gym to the church. As you might expect, he was talking with callers about the Palin speech last night.

He made an observation about the major philosophical differences between the parties, particularly as they regard the role of government in relationship to the individual.  I don't think I've ever heard it put quite as succinctly.  In effect, according to Prager, there are two driving forces at work.  Among Democrats, it's the need for security. (Not national security, but the security of the individual. Government taking care of all our personal needs.)  Among Republicans, it's the need for liberty.  The freedom of the individual to make grown-up choices, the opportunity--based upon disciplined hard work--to become whatever he/she can become, etc. 

I'm sure it's a bit of an over-simplification, but I think you can follow the tributaries of many platform issues from either party and they'll make their way to one of those philosophical rivers.  In my opinion, however, both "rivers" tend to overflow their banks.  The security-seekers can only receive their care-giving at the expense of others. The liberty-seekers tend to label many with legitimate needs as "lazy" and "unproductive" and "opportunistic."  Thus the need for balance and "truth-seeking" like I wrote about the other day.  

I'd love to see balance between security and liberty personally, if such a thing can be achieved. For instance, something HAS to be done about health care in this country.  Perhaps not, "universal" in the socialistic ideal of the word, but certainly something effective that will positively affect everyone.

It's Not Fun to Cry on Your Birthday

I hate for this post to be a downer, but it's 7:01 am and I'm sitting in the family room in tears.  

Part of the tears are sleep-related, I'm sure.  (I slept great until 5, but after a visit to the bathroom, I was wide-awake.)  I finally gave up on the effort to go back to sleep and came downstairs at 6:30. (Yesterday I was wide-eyed at 4!) 

Of course I turned on the TV first thing to check on Gustav's overnight behavior.  At church yesterday (and Saturday) we set aside a portion of every worship service to pray for the potential victims of the hurricane--particularly our Katrina-spawned friends in Burris, LA. It looks like the brunt of the storm may hit a little west of them, but they'll still get throttled pretty soundly.  The "good" news is that the storm seems to have downsized a bit.  As of this writing it's a Cat2. So, there were some Gustav-related tears.

Yesterday at our birthday/Labor Day cookout with family and friends (the Bakers--Billy's birthday is tomorrow), Billy informed me that Jason Caid, one of the "kids" who was in my HIU summer high-school tour and eventually a student at Hope, died suddenly of a rare cardio-vascular condition in mid-July.  Another former student had posted the blog account that Jason's wife wrote describing his death. Reading that brought more tears.  

I don't mind (too much) embarking on the last year of my 6th decade. [No, I'm NOT 69!!]  I mind terribly that a young husband was taken away from his loved ones just after completing his 3rd. Although he's gone to a far better place, the truth of his wife's closing statement remains:  "At 7:15 PM on July 13, his heart stopped and my heart broke."

"Lord, as I enjoy the fun perks of starting a "new year," help me remember that there are many who are dealing with life realities today that are altogether void of fun."