Iv'e been flushed!!!!

Took this last evening while driving around using a golf cart to keep the battery pumped up.

I have an MD from Syria, very nice man, who practices wellness. Last month he put me on Niaspan, a prescription strength B vitamin supplement with other stuff thrown in. It is designed to lower bad cholestorol and has one side effect that causes some folks to stop taking it. Possible Flushing of the skin and body

Well, I never have any side effects to anything, I thought, till this week I put two and two together and realized that I have been flushing. Here is how it happened.

I forgot to take the pills on vacation, so when I came home and resumed them I woke up early in the week with such a strange feeling in my arms and legs, they felt funny, and it woke me up.

Last night again, woke to a feeling of tingling heat in my extremities and a feeling of hotness. Gee Whiz, it hit me. This is what flushing feels like. Now to decide what to do.

Meanwhile, in this life of tribulation, I am going to teach today on I John 4. In which John tells us what he saw, touched, and proclaimed....that God is love. Really, do you really believe that? Yes, I really do.

Kicking Evil's Butt on the Big Screen

We enjoyed Superman last night with special interest on my part to the religious tones of a man who unveils his true purpose at 33 and faces giving his life to save the world.

Of course, the evil one who demanded the ransom could not be trusted to keep his word, so Superman ended up in a colossal battle that uses all the themes of the comic and movie series over the years with some really great twists.

We learn why Zod is motivated to destroy Superman, much more interesting that the silly, I will be bowed down to, of the Reeves era.

I loved that Lois Lane sleuths out who Superman is very early and gets to play a huge role in beating the bad people, very modern.

Loved the fact that Jorel continues to have a presence throughout the movie though he is long gone physically.

This Superman is very convincing in his goodness, and in his manhood, which made the spiritual imagery tolerable for me.

Lots of buildings being destroyed, boy does Hollywood love to destroy things with explosions in the movies today.

We were very entertained in this long movie, still left wondering if in this reboot Lois knows Clark and is just playing along when he comes to work at the Daily Planet. I predict this Superman will survive to make another sequel.

Here is Ben posing GQ like at Quiettwater Beach, he likes to think of himself as a really cool dude, and he is, most times.

I love Pensacola, Florida!

It's not swanky like Orlando, or sexy like Miami, its middle america, its military service and retirees, its big enough to have all you need and small enough to feel like a town. My parents lived their last years in Gulf Breeze, and as I was passing through I saw a little church that advertized itself as an annex to the Brownsville Assembly of God and memories flooded my mind.

Over a decade ago I attended an evening service at Brownsville and had to wait an hour to get into the building. It was all quite impressive and the music and the stuff that went on were interesting. They never got to a sermon that night for all the other prayers for healing and music, which did not still well with this former Presbyterian, but it was at the time heralded as part of the great end time revival. A huge new sanctuary was being built, and its ministers were buying property and building large private dwellings out in the suburbs as a testimony to prosperity.

So, my sis tells me.....it's gone, nothing left. Brownsville was already a transitional dying area and the folks just fizzled and it all died. The flashy ministers moved on to other showy and power grabbing opportunities, I assume. (Letting my feeling show in that last comment) The property sat for sale for a long time until an energetic black pastor began to build a ministry around focusing on the real needs of the area for feeding the hungry and education of children, and ministries of mercy and compassion.

And I thought..... Hallelujah.

If we ever return to Dixie, and I admit my heart has softened toward the south in recent years, Pensacola would be a possibility of a community we would enjoy.

The Anniversary

I cannot conceive of how my life would have turned out if I had been born in another country. I am proud to be an American. I cannot really know or understand the issues occurring in Egypt that caused them such celebration yesterday, but I can relate to the struggle they have with being forced to adopt Islamic practice, and I think it has some related issues we face here as we remember the past and the virtures and values that made this country.

Christians would applaude secular Egypt for not desiring to live under Sharia law, but then we would believe that we can in a sense force Christian values on parts of our secular culture that no longer share those values. It will be good for them, its the right thing, we were here first.

I think the ethic of love and respect and honor and honesty thrives in our country because of many reasons. Yes, I desire people to know the Lord, but in our country we should respect the fact that there are people of every religious persuasion and non religious conviction and they are this soil and this heritage as do we.

The separation of church and state as it developed allowed the freedom for faith to flourish, and the desire for an evangelical to enforce a way of life, is no more legitimate than that of a catholic or a muslim. Let freedom ring, it allows for tolerance and free expression and everything that is great in this country.

I came to faith on June 27, was ordained on June 27, 1976, so my first sermon as an ordained minister was delivered on July 4th, 1976. Faith and Freedom are dear to me, and as I am just three years short of serving 40 years in ministry, I hope I get to finish the course seeing our country do the things that make for a free life, a free expression of faith in speech and practice, and a prosperity that results from hard work and free compassionate capitalism.

This was a snap from a Pensacola trip years ago. Everyone in this picture is all grown up.

Thoughts on our trip to Dixie

We had a number of occasions to pass along the gulf coast hwy between Gulfport and Pascagoula and we continue to see damage done by Katrina not replaced, and many new buildings and businesses that were better than before, its life in a hurricane alley.

The Moss Point Church is being held together by the same great families that held our youth group together 25 years ago.

New Orleans seems safer each time we go, but very saddened that Riverwalk, once a thriving mall built upon the old worlds fair setting....is dead. Plans for an outlet mall not yet begun, although the new cruise port is beyond the mall, raising hopes that it may rise again.

The coffee at Cafe Du Monde is really good, and we limited our older selves to one pastry this time. Still cannot spell the french B-word they serve.

Pensacola Beach was great, but a new attraction, a giant Ferris Wheel, did not meet their ridership expectations so it dissapeared before our eyes and was headed for Atlanta for a new try at profitability. Amazing to watch it taken down so quickly. The gondolas were gone in two days of dissasemmly.

Only two beaches in the world bark when you walk on the white sand, I was told.

In Gautier as we were leaving, I saw a young man skateboarding with an infant in his arms?????I was not sure that was wise.

We love McDonalds for coffee and restroom breaks....they are everywhere. Service seems to be slowing badly.

Moving Back In....Again

We had a guest speaker on June 9 before I left for vacation, and three guest ministers while I was gone, but it coincided with a major upgrade to our home/office/bible study space. New carpet and vinyl throughout. It gave me a week to tear down and pack up my office, and now, I sit here preparing to put it all back in....hopefully neater than it was....and...try...to...keep...the...clutter...monster....at bay. He has been my office companion for over 40 years, I have learned to cope with him but my tidy members and executive assistant are always hoping he will not rear his ugly head.

Same Place, Different Time

Return visits are unique because you renew your relationship with space, after the passage of time, and though you are in the same place there is visual proof you are not the same person. It messes with my mind, which is while I cajoled Shannon to recreate a shot from our previous visit. We notices that the tilting post was there, but the Pirates Alley Sign had been removed (stolen?) You can see what three years does to a growing young lady.