On a Rainy Day in Brunswick, GA...

   I saw an article in the local paper the other day about an incident. It happened on the corner of Lee Street and L Street.

   Now you have to know that in the section of Brunswick, GA, lying just north of downtown, the streets that run east and west, running from US 17 on the marsh to US 341, which runs along the waterfront, are indicated by letters, like J and K and L and M. The cross streets going north and south are regular street names, a lot of them named for people.

   The section is not an affluent neighborhood. It looks dirt poor for the most part and contains some housing projects. It is not populated by middle class white southern citizens.

   The one thing that I recall hearing about this section of town, was from a friend of mine who forbade his mother-in-law to ever drive down L Street.

   After I read that previously mentioned article, I remembered seeing Lee Street when we were in that area one time, and I was struck by the other streets around it, as to how they were named.

   So one rainy day, Mayre and I went back over there and checked the names of other nearby streets.. Here is what we found...

  Six consecutive streets named after Confederate generals in this one area. The five above plus Stonewall Street, whose picture did not turn out well.

   I imagine, but don't know for sure, that this area was white when the streets were named, but it is anything but right now.

   In these days of statue removal, and other symbols of the Civil War era being protested, I have to wonder whether street names will be on the protest circuit anytime soon, and, if so, will it work its way down to Brunswick?

   And what do the current residents think?

   I wonder..

  

I've Got The Glasses...

   Yes, I have a pair of the eclipse glasses, those that you had to have to see the solar eclipse on Monday, and, after all, you have to use those when looking directly at the sun as it was eclipsed by the moon.

   And I still have those glasses, unused, sitting on my kitchen island counter.

   We had a cloudy day Monday, and, although some folks who were outside here at the time of the big event got to see a partial in and out of the clouds, we just watched it on TV.

   We saw the total eclipse from Idaho Falls, Hopkinsville, and Charleston, and it was truly spectacular, a once in a lifetime happening.

   Millions of people in the US saw the eclipse, many of them driving many miles to watch from inside the totality corridor to get the full effect.

   As we watched I listened to the commentators and the crowds as the moon blotted out the light of the sun. There was clapping. There was cheering. There was awe and amazement portrayed in the voices of the people on site watching, with their protective glasses of course.

   The event itself was stunning, but when I thought about it during that broadcast, I thought about the many scientists over the years whose experiments had brought us to the point of being able to predict, not only the time of the eclipse, but the totality path that crossed the US. A lot of years, a lot of sightings, a lot of experiments, and a lot of deep thought and study, got us to the point of our own personal experience.

   But, you know as great as all that was, the greater revelation of it all came from the realization of the order of the universe, as planned out by God in the creation, way back when.

   This was a once in 100 years happening, but we can go out each night and see the result of all God's order and planning of the universe we live in. Planets and stars in their orbits, the sunrise and sunset each day, and the predictability of it all.

   A total eclipse is great, but it is only a small part of the miracle of Creation, evident all around us.

   Let's give credit where credit is truly due, and as the Psalmist says:

   The heavens declare the glory of God,
    and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech,
    and night to night reveals knowledge.There is no speech, nor are there words,
    whose voice is not heard.

How About Stonewall?

   I awoke this morning with an image on my mind. It seems like I do that quite a bit these days, probably from watching too much news.

   Regardless, the picture I saw what that of a crowd of people clapping and cheering as a statue was roped and pulled down from its pedestal. This was in Durham, NC, and the figure was Stonewall Jackson, and I was offended.

   How does anyone have the right to tear down a statue put up to commemorate an event or a person, regardless? If a town or city, through its duly elected representatives deemed something that important, how do people think that they can act on their own and tear it down?

   It seems to me that all they are doing is tearing down the rule of law.

   Surely if a statue can be put up with the approval of a governmental body, it can also be taken down by that same body through the process of laws and ordinances. It may be a newly elected body, replaced by the voters, but is that not the way it works in civilized society?

   Perhaps it was the behavior of the crowd that sickened me so. Not only tearing down the man on the horse and letting it crash to the ground and break up, but then spitting on it, kicking it, like bullies taunting a helpless creature, while their compatriots cheered and laughed.

   The were, in effect, doing those things to the rule of law, a lawless part of our own society doing what they wanted, not what was right, or just, or honorable.

   The mob had their own "rights", the right to do what they wanted, what was "right" in their own eyes.

   This is probably just the ramblings of an old man, but it seems to me that the fabric of our country is in danger of being ripped apart, and as the statues are thrown down to the ground, so will be our foundations, foundations of law and order, of Constitutions, of Freedoms.

   Unpunished mob rule will do that to us...

   My oldest son, with his wife and dog, are making their way by car, back toward NC after being in CA for a couple of months. I texted him yesterday suggesting that he stop in some small county seats along the way and photograph courthouses. He probably smiled and continued to plan his route.

   And maybe, my thinking is colored by all the small towns in Georgia that we traveled to and from, but those towns had the feel of a stable and honorable society, a society that believed in God and country, and believed in the structures of law.

   And I probably idealized those towns and their people, but that is just how it seemed on the surface.

   Their monuments to events and people of the past, are just that, monuments to historical happenings. All our people need to know their history, so that we may not have to repeat it, or worse yet, have the government tell us what parts we need to know or forget.

   If I offended anyone, please forgive me, I'm just old..

   God Help Us, Please

  

   

  

Reading Again

   Some 20 odd years ago, my wife and I got hooked on the Mitford Series by Jan Karon. We read all we could get our hands on and enjoyed the ups and downs of Father Timothy Kavanagh, and all the other characters in the NC town of Mitford, but had lost track of those folks over the last few years. I was not even sure there were other titles that we had not read.

   So, when I came across and internet ad from Amazon, one promoting a Mitford book not previously on my radar, I snapped it up at the bargain price, and Mayre and I started reading.

   There were characters in the story that we knew of but could remember few details of their part in the plot. There were others that we had to learn about as we read, but, again, it was an enjoyable read.

   But, as we read, or, in reality, as I read aloud and Mayre listened, as we do these days, we found that all the participants in the story had moved far from when we last found them.

   So, what is to be done?

   Get a copy of book one and begin again!

   And we are enjoying it again.

   They say, when your memory starts to go, you will find you only need one book. Each time you pick it up, it will be new to you. It is...

   We are learning anew the life and ways of common folk, their struggles and triumphs, and the wholesomeness of a small town life that we never experienced personally.

   It is fun, and we get a chance to laugh together.

   Hard to beat that at our ages...

   That first Mitford book was published in 1994, and it looks like there are 14 now. By the time we get through all those, there may be more.

   But the good news is they are all available at a reduced price through the used book market

   So, we look forward to some good reading (and listening), a lot of laughter, and a sense of doing it together.

   And that ain't too bad...

Breakfast Is Important, Too

   "Reluctant obedience or sheer willpower will never last the distance. Only the joyful heart can walk the long and difficult road."

   The above is a quote from a little book Dare to Journey with Henri Nouwen, a book of sort devotions by Charles Ringma, featuring the thoughts of Catholic theologian and author Henri Nouwen.

   This morning I read Reflection 45 in this devotion book, so that means that I have been mulling over those words above for the past 15 days or so, and every time that quote comes to mind, I see myself pictured very vividly.

   I often quote the "prayer that never fails" from Jan Karon's Mitford Series, "Thy Will Be Done" and I do believe that these are correct words to pray, but they are not to be reluctant words, but an affirmation. It is not resignation and a shrug of the shoulders that needs to reflect the attitude of the prayer, it is a genuine concern for the "right and proper way".

   When new circumstances come, especially when these are "hard ones", it is not easy to have that joyful heart, but maybe this morning I have had a glimpse of what that looks like.

   The other morning, when both of us woke up early, you know, "nature calls", and I decided to get us both over to the beach area to see the sunrise, I thought it was just so I could get some good pictures, but as I found out much later, even this morning, that it was not me that mattered, it was the making of someone else's heart joyful that caused mine to be that way, too.

   As we sat on the porch just a few minutes ago, several days past the sunrise experience, she told me, "you know, as I woke up this morning, I remembered that sunrise and how glad I was that you took me over there to the beach to see it."

   And I was glad that I had listened to that inner voice that said, "you need to take your wife to the beach right now".

   By making her the center of the whole experience, a joyful heart was had by both.

   God first, Others second, me third.

   That is also why the Thy Will Be Done works...

   That is not reluctant obedience, or even sheer willpower, it is as Nouwen also says:

   "hearing the call, counting the cost, making the commitment and embracing the new direction or circumstance"

   And all I have to do is keep remembering the admonition..

   And for that I need eternal guidance and help.

   And, as I have reflected on all this, and even written it down, I hear a small quiet voice from the back porch, a voice that reminds me that all this introspection is good, but action is even better.

   Time to get breakfast...