Mike's adventures

Ruth sent me this quote yesterday. It says in a few simple words what I could not say in an entire novel...

"A veteran, whether active duty, retired, national guard or reserve, is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America", for an amount of "up to and including my life." That is honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it." anon

In 1868 congress and the president of the United States set aside the last Monday of May as an observance of the men and women who had fallen in service to their country. I think that the order that was signed says it best;

I. The 30th day of May, 1868,is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form or ceremony is prescribed, but Posts and comrades will, in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.

We are organized, Comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose among other things, "of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers sailors and Marines, who united to suppress the late rebellion." What can aid more to assure this result than by cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead? We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security, is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.

If other eyes grow dull and other hinds slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain in us.

Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains, and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledge to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon the Nation's gratitude—the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan.

II. It is the purpose of the Commander in Chief to inaugurate this observance with the hope that it will be kept up from year to year, while a survivor of the war remains to honor the memory of his departed comrades. He earnestly desires the public press to call attention to this Order, and lend its friendly aid in bringing it to the notice of comrades in all parts of the country in time for simultaneous compliance therewith.

III. Department commanders will use every effort to make this Order effective.

—General Orders No. 11, Grand Army of the Republic Headquarters^[1].

Quote

One of the things I have not covered much in this blog is the church that Ruth and I attend. It is filled with loving people who we both consider dear friends. Over the course of the past several years we have seen many changes of which the biggest is the shrinking of the congregation. Families have moved on for various reasons that has reduced our local congregation to about 50 people on any given Sunday.

One of our largest assets as a body is our church building. This was built by volunteer labor and can easily seat 250. With this in mind we have been looking at merging with another local body that was in need of a building. There were two requirements for this other church to have and those were a vital children’s ministry and a pastor.

To that end, our leadership team had been meeting with another group who seemed to fit the bill. Month on month the meetings continued until the time to make the decision was reached. By a large margin, the merger was rejected by our body.

The reason to bring this up is to share my sadness at how a meeting to make the final decision panned out. Many ego’s were bruised and some dearly held beliefs were challenged on things that are not central to the Christian faith.

The core of the belief centers on this; That Jesus Christ was born; was sacrificed on the cross for the payment of our sins, and was raised again after three days and will return. Anything beyond this is trivial in comparison to the central message above. When church members start to place their personal theology above the central message of the cross then divisiveness happens which violates one of the key messages of scripture in John 13:34-35;

If we as believers would keep this in mind when dealing with one another then many of the problems within the church would evaporate. It is my belief that God does not care how we worship Him or how a local body is governed (or even what color my boxer shorts are) as long as we love one another the way Jesus Christ has shown us. It continues to be my prayer that each of us will love God first, love each other second, and love ourselves last.

Wednesday, 29 April

This past week saw my beautiful wife (shown left) celebrate another birthday. What is great about this is that we have been married almost 19 years and she still looks 29 to me. I do not think I will ever get tired of looking at her or spending time with her.

We had a great evening that started with going to a movie (her choice, of course) and then to dinner at a local Italian restaurant. What a great day to spend with my wife!

And speaking of a great person Ruth is, the movie she chose to go see is….

State of Play

While I am not normally a fan of Russell Crowe, this was a very compelling movie with an interesting twist at the end. I really enjoyed the movie and the after dinner conversation that it generated. Well Chosen Ruth.

Friday, 1 May

While today was a busy day at the office with 10,000,000 things going on, I had a dinner engagement scheduled with a friend for after work. Michael is a 17 year old young man that has gone through a fair amount of trauma in his life, but I like spending time with him. Our conversations cover many topics, but many times the conversation will cover how Christians respond to things in the news.  This past week covered gay marriage and the response to tragedy. It was a great evening spent with a great young man who I have the highest regard for.  Once he makes up his mind in what he believes, Michael has a chance to make a great impact on the world.

Saturday, 2 May

Today is the busy day of the weekend and it started early. We got up early and got showered and dressed. Ruth headed off to meet with a lady at church for early morning prayer time while I straightened up the house a little and got ready to meet with friends for breakfast.

After breakfast we all piled into my Avalanche and headed to Fort Yargo state park to play a round of disc golf. The disc golf course is in a heavily wooded section of the park and is very different from where we normally play. On our normal course you would have to make a very, very bad shot to hit a tree. At Yargo, the trees jump in front of your disc with great regularity.

I have to admit (although I will deny it if pressed) that there is something satisfying of hearing a disc thrown with great force hit a tree. The sound of THWACK! Dang!! rang out many times during the course of the round.

The fun really started on hole 17 when the skies decided that they had held on to their water supply too long and the heavens opened up. It made for a rather damp ending to our game (although we finished all 18)

After the game the four of use were hungry and drove into Winder to find some lunch. By accident, we found a great Bar-b-que place on the square. Stuffed full of pulled pork, we lumbered back into the avalanche and the drive home. (Thanks for the great time Paul and Sandy!)

Once home, Ruth and I had about 3 hours to kill before our next event, so quick showers were taken, clean clothes changed into, and then lounge around for a little while.

Later in the evening it was back up towards Winder to meet up with a bunch of folks to celebrate a friends 60th birthday.  It was a grand time a even better to see old friends that we had not seen in a while. Not much else to report but to wish David another happy birthday (now that he is 60, we have to keep reminding him why we are all here!)

Sunday, 3 May

Sunday’s are always reserved for going to church and today is no different. Ruth and I both being sore and tired did not stop of from heading to our local church this morning. It was a good thing as well as I had Emcee duties and there is to be a congregational meeting at the end of the service. I will not say much more other than the meeting was animated with many opinions across the board.  I may or may not write more on this once I finish processing all that occurred.

After church, large group headed to lunch together at our favorite Sunday restaurant Be-Ba’s. This is another Italian place that is incredibly good and relatively inexpensive. It was a great time to gather and discuss the events of the morning and enjoy one another’s company.

After Lunch, Ruth and I met up with a few other folks to toss the discs again at our local disc golf course. If you compare the photo to the left with the one above, you can certainly see the contrasts.

It was a great time Playing with Paul, Sandy, Bob, Gerrit and Connor. The course is much easier and lends itself to having conversations during the round. I was glad to play this course at the end of the weekend to decompress from all else that went on.

As you can tell, we certainly Carpe’d those Diem’s the last couple of days. I think that I am going to need my upcoming vacation to recover from it.

And as a final note, if you happen to hear snoring from wherever you are in the world, please forgive me, I am tired!