What's on Your iPod?
OK, I'm going to sound kinda OLD here, but recently while perusing Reader's Digest . . .
Yes, America's favorite little magazine has found that ideal place of prominence in our home--the magazine rack of the master bathroom. And by "magazine rack" I do actually mean atop the toilet tank. I'd put the Sunday School book in there, but who's got that kind of time?

Back to the subject. Over the last few months, I have enjoyed reading the celebrity interviews. In many recent articles RD has included a sidebar interview related to pop culture. Often the question that gets asked is, "What's on your iPod?" This month, Tina Fey confessed to having Britney Spears' "Outrageous" and the soundtrak from Annie in "high rotation".

Well, I have owned an iPod shuffle for less than a day now. It as a lot of music from grade school through college on it such as Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Spin Doctors, No Doubt, and Cranberries. But I had to give into guilty pleasures and pick up some more contemporary sounds. So in there with Don Henley you'll find Wyclef Jean because I'm working on incorporating the phrase "dolla-dolla bill, y'all" into my lexicon. Might slip it into the offertory prayer some weekend. And thank you, Fergie, for the way you say "Check it out!" Chris Brown is helping me add an entry under "boo". It's no longer only an interjection, folks!

What's really cool about my late entry to iPod-dom is that Trisha got the the "product RED" version. Apple will give a portion of it's purchase to the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa. (http://www.joinred.com/) So, having a red iPod gives me something else to talk about than the importance of having Green Day's "Holiday" turned waaaaaaaayyyy up! "Say! . . . Hey! " Of course, when I'm wearing my red iPod while riding my Heifer Project (www.heifer.org) water buffalo into a that needy village, a Big and Rich song might be a little more appropriate.

Branches in the Road
You might have heard that we had a tornado in Allendale on Saturday. That is not true. We had TORNADOES Saturday evening. The great news is that everyone is OK, but we have a lot of damage. One of my church members lost her home. What remains of it is scattered in the peach orchard across the highway. Her daughter lives next door, and her home is severely damaged.
http://www.wjbf.com/midatlantic/jbf/news_index.apx.-content-articles-JBF-2008-03-17-0001.html

A lot of trees and powerlines are down. A lot of roofs around here have at least one tree on them. Of course, people are still frightened and heartbroken. Cleanup has commenced on a variety of levels.

We came to Sunday morning services without electricity. We stuck with the Palm Sunday text from Matthew because there were a number of pharases there to resonate with. We understood quite well what it meant to be a "city in turmoil" (Mt 21:10). We all had shouted our "Hosannas in the highest", first in the original meaning of term "save us", and then in sighs of relief learing everyone was OK, and again in praises seeing FEMA representatives and Disaster Relief volunteers showing up quickly.

We came to Palm Sunday with branches in the road already, an appropriate carpet upon which Jesus can ride into this town. It looks like were heading into a very interesting Holy Week.

Of course, our tornadoes, weren't the only ones in SC one Saturday. Branchville is home to many childhood memories for me. That's where I got my haricut, celebrated Railroad Daze, and enjoyed many a cone of soft-serve ice cream. The Churn was one of the landmarks destroyed by a tornado. Here's an article about Branchville . . .
http://www.thetandd.com/articles/2008/03/17/news/13010723.txt

Haven't got sense enough to . . .

"The one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has
rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard,
rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this
game, is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and what
could be again."

That's beautiful, Mr. Jones, but may I counter your oft quoted soliloquy with another gem from baseball cinema . . .

"A good friend of mine used to say, 'This is a very simple game. You throw the
ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you
lose, sometimes it rains.' Think about that for a while."

People know I love baseball. One thing that keeps me sane in small-town church life is that there is a "field of dreams" of sorts right here in Allendale. The local junior college USC-Salkehatchie has a team, and when they play, I am there. No, the diamond is not carved out of a corn field, but it occupies space near pine woods that border the old airport.

The line from the Bull Durham quote that has been resonating with me is "sometimes it rains". We have had some nice downpours here in the last two weeks. It didn't rain on gamedays, but it rained so much on the days before that the games were cancelled or moved to the other school because the field flooded.

Let me be clear, I am not complaining about rain. We need it down here. I love baseball, but I also love peaches (Hear me, frost, you are not welcome here 'til October!).

Yesterday evening's game was scheduled for 5 PM. Walking out to the car, I noticed a few drops on the windshield. The game went on amid off and on light showers. I stayed for the whole thing and was treated to a 9th inning rally by the home team to win the game. I probably will have a cold, or pneumonia, or tuberculosis, but today I'm happy!

The Bird Funeral

Day four of the Gold Finch invasion of my front yard took a sad turn this morning. As I was on my way out to walk to the church office, I noticed one of the birds had died by the front door. I don't know what happened to him. I don't know if he crashed into the glass of the front door or if he'd been attacked by a cat or hawk. I'd like to think that he gave his last efforts in life defending the feeder from that "dang squirrel".

Last night, I led the Wednesday night crowd in a study of Matthew 24-25. We went through that long list of signs of the end of the age. Several could be viewed a threats. Some could be seen as natural events. All of them, though, must be interpreted as calls for Jesus' disciples to remain faithful, sharing the Good News to every corner of the earth until the end does come.

So, here on Thursday morning, I was presented with lab work based on Wednesday night's lesson. "Consider the birds of the air," Jesus said earlier in Matthew, "They don't grow crops or store grain in barns, but our Father in heaven cares for them." That point in the Sermon on the Mount is that God will take care of us also. We are called to remain faithful, and when we do we really are like the birds, doing what God created us to do without one worry.

I grabbed a shovel and headed out to the daylily patch. In a few months, the "lilies of the field" will be clothed in splendor just like the plumage this bird sported in summertime.

"Praise the Lord from the earth . . . wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds!" (from Psalm 148). Overhead, a mockingbird sang every song he knew.