Who's the oldest continuous MLB Franchise?

The Braves. Here are some pictures of Turner Field. Part 1.

It Never Rains in California. . .

Or at least like it did this past week in Georgia. Here are a few pictures of the trip on Saturday to Atlanta to a Braves-Phillies game. Realize we are going between 25 and 30 mph on a freeway and the wipers are on the fastest speed available.






The black blob on the left of the picture is a forest. There is one on the right also. The effect is a tunnel that you drive through. It reminded me of Northern CA/Oregon. You know the claustrophobic feeling of driving with limited vision, and returning at night through territory you know little? In Northern CA we have Sasquatch to give you fear, eventually finding out it was a hoax. This is where Deliverence took place.





The road signage was suspect also. You see the Hwy. 85 sign on the other side of the barrier? I still think that is/was where we were supposed to be, but the sign is our notice to be there, after the exit. We got to downtown Atlanta and Turner Field and back to Columbus, but to this day I'm not sure how.



This last picture is of some of the local fauna. The first time we saw this lovely dog it wasn't raining, then the deluge. At least this one was recognizable. At one point on our trip, I reached down to pick up what I thought was a child's plastic airplane about 4" across and it was a moth of some kind. Dr. Seuss Flora and Fauna is right.

When it was all said and done the trip was good and the people were nice, friendly and well-mannered. That also was very un-California like. I'll post more on different subjects in the future. I'd also like to mention that even though I'm whining about the rain, people are having their houses flooded. The was over 24" of rain in 24 hours in some places. It was reported as the second worse flood height in history for that region. The people do deserve our prayers.

What Did You Really Expect?

Sam is just to the right of the standard bearer.



We're home from our adventure in the Southeast. Rain (everyday), hail and thunder(in Texas), dead critters in the road that we'd never seen before, bugs(Sam called them the Dr. Seuss School of Flora and Fauna), more hair and less teeth on a human than expected, more friendly people that were more courteous than you'd expect in CA, great Braves/Phillies game in a beautiful stadium.

I'm still trying to wrap my brain around everything we saw and experienced. There will be many blogs in the future emanating from this trip. Sam is well and doing what he is called to do, and enjoying it immensely. He started Airborne school yesterday and should be jumping out of perfectly good airplanes on his birthday in two weeks.

Needless to say, Hooah! Go Army!

In the background is the tower Sam will be flying down from soon.

What do You wish For?

The ring on the right is for a COS conference swimming championship and it is what most of us get to wear on earth.

The ring on the left is what we get for waiting 86 years to claim a championship, and is what we dream of wearing.

It is still tiny compared to what God has waiting for us.

Random Thoughts

Sam called yesterday, but I was still at work. Seems happy to be done with the latest phase.

Too early in the morning to be writing, but it's better than counting the cracks in the ceiling.

Met yesterday regarding the change to a 6 period day. Too many things to consider and squabble over. I hope the faculty doesn't start feeding on itself.

Fun to have our own eggs from chickens. Even more fun to watch the dogs and cats interact with Henny Penny and the Girls.

Tonight is the beginning of the 101st year of EUHS football and playing Woodlake to boot.

Next week will be fun in GA. I look forward to being with my family and enjoying them.

I'm falling asleep again, which is why I got up and worked on grades and posted today.

Have a great day!

Where is Your Message Spoken the Loudest, and What Are You Saying?

As I was sitting in a church service yesterday I was thinking many thoughts and not all of them connected to the music or video message. This was a group I was sitting in on for the first time. I know some of the people and they are Godly men and women. There were some I met that I would like to get to know better and there were some that I have no idea about, but would not fear to talk to them on the street. I say these things not in a judgemental way, just as a matter of observing fellow humans.

The video message centered on the message we broadcast to the world from our actions, manners and speech. What is coming out of the megaphone we carry about with us? I was thinking about the clothes some were wearing, including myself. What was I broadcasting? Why do we judge others based upon what we drive and wear? My thoughts wandered about and dwelled on a comment that was made before the service started.

I can't remember the exact words. The comment was made about the church this person and I had formerly attended and that is no longer meeting at this time. The comment wasn't mean or intended to be mean, but it was implied that it was time for the church die. I was taken aback by the comment and didn't say anything in response. The service then started and I found a seat.

As I dwelled on this comment, I thought of a message I heard recently on four of the Beatitudes from Matthew 5. Tom Befort gave an excellent message and tied in a personal experience to connect these verses to real life. The one that Maureen and I have been talking about for the last few weeks was verse 9: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." Tom used William Barclay's commentary to illustrate the difference between peacemakers and peacelovers. Below is part of the text of the Barclay commentary, pages 124-127.

The blessing is on the peace-makers, not necessarily on the peace-lovers. It very often happens that if a man loves peace in the wrong way, he succeeds in making trouble and not peace. We may, for instance, allow a threatening and dangerous situation to develop and our defence is that for peace’s sake we do not want to take any action. There is many a person who thinks that he is loving peace, when in fact he is piling up trouble for the future, because he refuses to face the situation and to take the action which the situation demands.

The peace which the Bible calls blessed does not come from the evasion of issues; it comes from facing them, dealing with them and conquering them.

What this beatitude demands is not the passive acceptance of things because we are afraid of the trouble of doing anything about them, but the active facing of things, and the making of peace, even when the way to peace is through struggle.

. . . Anyone who divides is doing the devil's work; anyone who unites people is doing God's work.

I was struck by the simple truth that peace is not easy. Many want peace, but are unwilling to do the work involved in making peace. "I don't want to get involved; it's just too political." "I wish things were like they used to be." "Maybe it's just time." Are these statements of peacemaking or peaceloving?

Do you love the peace? Or do you love what is right? Are you uniting? Or are you dividing?