Vacation Part II

Still enjoying my holiday from work. In the last eight days, I have driven through Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia - visiting family and friends in Cullman (AL), Nashville (TN), Raleigh (NC), Atlanta (GA), and Macon (GA). Whew. Strangely, I'm not tired at all from the traveling. It's actually been rather relaxing and just so energizing to connect and reconnect with so many people that are so dear to me ...

Which brings me to the following pictures of good friends and their diapered youngsters. I'm not sure what's more beautiful: the grandeur of sweeping mountain landscapes or the adorable smiles of a baby. Either way, God's creation is glorious. Praise the Lord.

Alison, baby Owen, and Andrew

baby Owen, all smiles (with Donald the Dolphin and Betsy the Cow)

Anna, baby Elizabeth Grace, and Robert

Vacation Beauty

One thing I love about vacation is the chance to step back from the everyday things of life. It's an opportunity to really enjoy some of the gifts of God's nature without most of the normal distractions and certainly without the general "routineness" of daily life. (I think I just made up a new word. If anyone knows of a real word that signifies the same idea, please let me know!)

As a native of the U.S. South (I've lived in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, y'all), I have been blessed to experience a little of the beauty outside the 'Ole South, including hiking trips through the mountains of New Mexico, Alberta (Canada), and Alaska, a mission trip to Moscow, Russia, and business trips to Puerto Rico, California and New York. However, there is still something intimately lovely about the Southeast - from the Smokies to the Gulf Coast, and much in between. So here are a few pictures from my trip through the Southeast so far. Hopefully more to come.

And keep in mind that these images are only a shadow of the true experience, which is only a foretaste of glory divine, for which all of creation (including us) groans with the pains of childbirth for that day when all will be made right. For more, see Romans chapter 8, Isaiah 35, and Revelation 21.






Cattle near Natural Bridge, Alabama


Railroad tracks near Waynesville, North Carolina

Moonshine Creek Campground near Waynesville, North Carolina

Lake Junaluska, North Carolina

Lake Junaluska


Lake Junaluska

Lake Junaluska

Lake Junaluska

Living in the Lap of Modern Luxury

You know, sometimes we really take for granted the modern conveniences that we have grown accustomed to having. I was just kind of warm a few minutes ago in my house, so I walked down the hall and turned the thermostat down a couple of degrees for the air conditioner to kick on. I was hungry, so I heated up some peas in the microwave and warmed up some fish in the oven – and in about 15 minutes, I was eating my meal. I wondered what was happening in the world of sports, so I turned on my satellite television to find my favorite baseball team, the Atlanta Braves, playing extra innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Then I decided to hop on the computer and check my electronic mail (via a cable internet connection wirelessly transmitted to my laptop).

And that’s when it hit me: I really have more than I could ever need or want materially. And I have almost all of it at my fingertips, needing just the click of a button to accomplish the most complex of modern tasks. I don’t usually give a second thought to the kind of luxury I live in even as a middle-class American. We (Americans and others in highly developed nations) are downright spoiled.

I daresay that if a man or woman from the 18th century were somehow transported into a medium-sized town of middle America in 2009, they would hardly recognize anything that looked similar to their life in the 1700s. Some of the person’s immediate thoughts might be: (1) To where are all these people going in such a hurry? (2) If this mechanical carriage goes any faster, I think I’ll vomit, and how do the drivers not constantly crash into one another? (3) There seems to be so many public eating houses, I wonder if anyone dines with their family at home. (4) I am seeing so many grocery markets, but not many farms to grow the produce. (5) Most people seem to live in absolute palaces – I wonder if they are members of the royal family. (6) Why are everyone’s children acting like little heathens? Shouldn’t the parents be whipping them instead of laughing? (7) All this noise and activity is making my head spin. I think I should lie down.

So next time you toss some bread in the toaster, or clothes in the dryer, or dishes in the dishwasher, or next time you hop in your car for a quick trip across town to get batteries for your TV remote, try to stop for half a second and consider that you’re still one of the first people in the thousands of years of the human race to have such luxuries at your instant disposal. Sometimes I wonder whether it’s a blessing or a curse.

Chick-fil-A

I was just thinking ... Chick-fil-A is amazing. Great food. Great business. Great marketing. All based on biblical, Christ-centered values. What more could we ask for?