Early Rising, Day Planning

I woke up and got out of bed this morning a little past three...did ten minutes of running in place while brewing coffee.  Now I'm sitting here looking ahead to the coming day, just a little past four.  One item on my agenda is to go down to my local public library branch, update my card and account, and check out one or two interesting books.  Unlike the case with 2nd and Charles a few weeks ago, I have no intention of picking out books out of desperation because I'm too tired and can't find a place to sit.  i do know that this is now post-Easter and we're now back on the regular calendar. It's a foregone conclusion that further exercise for me today will tax my ability to accomplish it.  If i do more back-yard inner perimeter laps, then I know what to expect.  And my eating will be measured and recorded., with the notion that spacing of meals and snacks is to be recommended. Yesterday evening i did watch a YouTube video listing and explaining 7 simple habits I could easily adopt...probably would be better off writing them down and implementing them, 1 by 1.  i want to install and begin using a smartphone app that identifies wild bird species by their songs...this afternoon on the back porch sounds like a good time to get that going.  And hydrating a lot more, that sounds good. Life is good, and I am a person in charge of my own happiness...

Stumbling with Routines During Multiple-Holiday Season

 I've been working on getting through this annoying head cold I've been suffering from during the last few days.  With the sinus congestion working on overdrive along with sneeze-triggering irritation in my sinuses and throat, life has not been very enjoyable...especially during the late-night, early-morning hours when I am accustomed to be asleep.  Now we're entering the highly-hyped holiday season, so naturally I feel that the expectations are for me to abandon all of the routines I have established, because Thanksgiving and Christmas, after all, are  "special events" and I'm presumably guilty of something if I want to do things regularly and responsibly, albeit on my own. Tonight on Thursday Night Football, the Buffalo Bills are at Houston to play the Texans.  I don't feel anything approaching the confidence I had in this team to win games as in years before, so I won't be surprised if Houston prevails.  Maybe I'll do some "rock-running" exercises while watching a NYC Marathon virtual YouTube video, or maybe I'll take a break from it all.  It sure would be nice for me to be in "reset" mode whereby the future is open for me to make responsible progress in distance running.  Let's see if that can't happen in the next few weeks of "holiday wonderland":guilty as charged...

Happy Earth Day...If Your "Truth" Allows It

So today is officially Earth Day...are we still interested in it?  After all, it's only the one planet we know that can sustain life in our universe.  But then again, that pesky former vice-president Al Gore did come out, a little more than a couple of decades ago, with his An Inconvenient Truth book that presented the widely-held view among climatologists that the world is warming at an alarming rate, due to man-made forces.  Ever since then, the issue has been divided on political lines with the Democrats generally supporting measures to counteract climate change and the Republicans in a "convenient" state of denial as they go full speed ahead with fossil fuels.  I remember back in April 1970 when another Republican, president Richard Nixon, was there at the inauguration of Earth Day.  In spite of his flaws, this was a president who understood the fragility of our home planet and supported environmental regulation.  It's sad to see much of this fall by the wayside as people nowadays choose their own "truths" and condemn the "other side" as enemies...

Three Movies Recently Watched

During the last few weeks I did something I've rarely done in recent memory: watch three full-length currently-running feature-length movies.  They were, in order of viewing: Red One, Wicked and Carry-On.  Red One is a largely tongue-in-cheek comedy...with a mushy subplot...about Santa Claus being kidnapped and two unlikely allies, portrayed by Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, teaming up to solve the mystery and rescue good ol' St. Nick.  It's loaded with computer-generated imagery, as I'm afraid movies these days tend to be.  The action is in your face and abrupt...but that's also the case with the other two films I saw.  Wicked is a revisionist prequel to L. Frank Baum's classic Wizard of Oz...it tells the story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and reframes her image as being a thoughtful, compelling young woman, as opposed to the shallow and narcissistic "Good Witch" Glinda.  That movie, based on the Broadway run adapted from Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel, hit me like a spoof of South Park's spoof of High School Musical: a little too heavy on the song-and-dance, thank you.  It's also just Part One, so another Wicked is on its merry way.  And the last movie I saw...all of them with Melissa and the middle one with Rebecca...was Carry-On, an edge-of-your-seat action flick about a TSA checker at the LA airport who is blackmailed at his post during the Christmas season to allow a sinister piece of luggage to pass through unchecked.  It was well-made and suspenseful, but I couldn't help but see its premise as a blatant ripoff of the 2002 thriller Phone Booth.  I managed to get through all three movies intact, but felt that each of them was guilty of sensory overload...I couldn't help feeling somehow manipulated, even with the cutesy Red One.  But I guess that's how movies are made today...

Planets on Full Display in Winter Night Sky

On New Year's Eve Melissa and I were invited to our friends' rural farm home to celebrate with them and others the changing of the year with food and good conversation.  We had never been there before and gratefully availed ourselves of the Waze app to know where to turn on the zigzagging way, with dirt roads presenting their own challenges as we approached our destination.  Once there, we enjoyed ourselves while soaking in the ambiance of being way out in the countryside of Gilchrist County.  The sky was cloudless and the stars shone brilliantly...as well as the planets: there were three of them (or four if you looked down and counted the Earth): Saturn, Jupiter and Mars.  I could easily make out red Mars, which was the easternmost, just below the zodiac constellation Gemini (technically it's in Cancer, but no one can make out that faint constellation).  I had to look up later which of the other two was Jupiter and which was Saturn.  Jupiter is in Taurus and Saturn, in the west part of the sky, is in Aquarius...just south of Pegasus.  I liked the fact that I could look all the way down to any horizon and see stars without noticeable interference from city lights.  Of course, out here as well as where I live, there are plenty of trees to block the view.  We enjoyed our visit, which I wouldn't have been able to be a part of had I not retired.  One door closes and many more open.  Speaking of more opportunities, I'm looking forward to seeing more of my local planetarium once its January schedule resumes after the holiday break.  It's the Kika Silva Pla Planetarium at Santa Fe College, directed by James Albury...

Tuesday's List: Cast of The Great Escape and Their Movies I've Seen

On Memorial Day yesterday I worked and got off at ten at night.  Upon getting home I surfed the TV channels and rested upon Turner Classic Movies, which was showing the tail end of the classic 1963 World War II flick The Great Escape.  It's about a Nazi German POW camp composed mainly of British prisoners, along with several from other countries...including an American, played by Steve McQueen.  They plot an elaborate escape through a tunnel...those who get out must improvise to find a way to get to Spain or Switzerland as their pursuers gain on them.  A really exciting film this was...I was about ten when I first saw it.  At that time I was a big fan of the series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., so the character I focused on was that played by David McCallum, who portrayed Russian spy Illya Kuryakin on the popular spy series. Later it became clear that many of the cast in The Great Escape went on to become big screen stars and made several movies, some of which I saw (and a lot of which I didn't, not being a major moviegoer).  So I picked some from the cast and listed the movies they appeared in that I saw...as well as TV series they starred in...and ranked them in order of my liking.  The Great Escape was a great movie...watch it sometime if you haven't yet seen it...

STEVE MCQUEEN (1930-1980)
1 PAPILLON
2 THE GETAWAY
3 THE GREAT ESCAPE
4 THE TOWERING INFERNO
5 TOM HORN
Didn't see: The Sand Pebbles, The Magnificent Seven, Bullitt, The Thomas Crown Affair

JAMES GARNER (1928-2014)
1 THE GREAT ESCAPE
2 THE ROCKFORD FILES (TV)
3 MAVERICK (TV)
Didn't see: Murphy's Law

RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH (1923-2014)
1 THE GREAT ESCAPE
Didn't see: The Sand Pebbles, Doctor Dolittle

JAMES DONALD (1917-1993)
1 THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI
2 THE GREAT ESCAPE
Didn't see: The Pickwick Papers, David Copperfield

CHARLES BRONSON (1921-2003)
1 TELEFON
2 THE DIRTY DOZEN
3 THE MECHANIC
4 THE GREAT ESCAPE
5 DEATH WISH 2
6 DEATH WISH
7 MR. MAJESTYK
8 TWO (Twilight Zone Episode)
9 DEATH WISH 3
Didn't see: The Magnificent Seven, Once Upon a Time in the West, Murphy's Law

DONALD PLEASENCE (1919-1995)
1 THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD (Twilight Zone Episode)
2 YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE
3 THE GREAT ESCAPE
4 THE MAN WITH THE POWER (Outer Limits Episode)
5 HALLOWEEN II
6 HALLOWEEN
7 ANY OLD PORT IN A STORM (Columbo episode)

JAMES COBURN (1928-2002)
1 DUCK, YOU SUCKER! (aka A FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE)
2 OUR MAN FLINT
3 THE OLD MAN IN THE CAVE (Twilight Zone episode)
4 THE GREAT ESCAPE
5 IN LIKE FLINT
6 THE PRESIDENT'S ANALYST
7 MIDWAY
8 ....and of course all those Schlitz Light commercials
Didn't see: The Magnificent Seven

DAVID MCCALLUM (1933-)
1 THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. (TV Series)
2 THE SIXTH FINGER (Outer Limits episode)
3 THE GREAT ESCAPE
4 TEACHER, TEACHER (Hallmark Hall of Fame episode)
5 THE FORM OF THINGS UNKNOWN (Outer Limits episode)

As you can see, good ol' David McCallum is the only one of the above still alive...may Napoleon Solo's sidekick keep pushing on ahead!

Our St. Augustine Eco Tour Holiday Boat Ride

Friday Melissa and I drove over to St. Augustine again to go on the Eco Tour holiday lights boat ride up and down the Matanzas River (Intracoastal Waterway there).  I say "again" because on Saturday, the 16th we had gone there for the very same reason but the traffic was so congested that we missed our appointed time...we simply could not park or even approach the downtown marina area in time.  But the good folks at Eco Tour were sympathetic and graciously put us on last Friday's 6 pm boat...no problem with the traffic or parking this time!  Just to be safe, though, we got there early in the afternoon and walked up and down St. George's and King Streets, exploring stores (and drinking coffee) in misty, very chilly, windy, and overcast weather throughout the day and evening.  At the city marina just south of where the main bridge crosses, we found our group and departed on time for our hour-long tour on an open motorboat seating around 12-14.  Most of the other passengers were couples like us, but there was a large family at the end with three excited little kids...I found their noisiness to enhance the experience although at times I couldn't make out what the tour guide was saying.  We first went south toward the southern bridge, stopped facing the famous lighthouse, turned back north, passing a "party pirate" yacht, went under the Bridge of Lions, and passed the spooky Spanish fort, on whose walls folks were casting big shadows.  The guide told us that it had never fallen in battle and that this was largely because it was virtually indestructible, made from little seashells that absorbed bombardment instead of collapsing.  Interesting...

We kept going further north until we reached that beautiful, 200-foot tall cross on the edge of the river.  Because of the intense ground lights and the overcast sky, a giant, dark shadow of the cross was etched onto the clouds...an amazing sight.  Then we headed back, with the brilliant downtown city's Christmas lighting making it almost seem to be on fire (see photo above).  I really liked Eco Tours, although there are other tour companies operating out of this marina that are probably fine, too.  They also have more nature-based boating excursions where the natural flora and fauna of the area are explored...

All in all, Friday's adventure was very fun, and Melissa and I enjoyed it.  I got to drink lots of coffee, we ate at Scarlett O'Hara's, and went into an extraordinary art gallery off King Street near the marina.  But that's St. Augustine for you: a different, memorable experience each time you go there...

Enjoying Christmas at Home with Family

Usually I try to put out something on a daily basis on this blog.  Since today is Christmas, I just haven't got around to writing anything.  I've had a wonderful day at home with my family and hope that you have enjoyed this great holiday as well.  Right now (besides writing this, that is) I am watching Alfred Hitchcock movies on the Turner Classic Movies channel, the NBA game between Houston and Oklahoma City...and surfing around the TV dial for anything else.  I'm alternating this important activity with going to the kitchen where there are all sorts of goodies to eat.  Yesterday we all had a great time playing some brand new board games we had just bought...that Pandemic is fun but man, is it intricate.  It is "cool" that the weather suddenly changed to a wonderfully pleasant temperature...tomorrow it's going to warm up again.  Well, back to my crucial movies/sports/food...

Went on Polar Express Train Ride Yesterday

Yesterday Melissa and I went down to Tavares to ride the "Orlando" version of the Polar Express train ride, based on the popular Warner Brothers Christmas movie featuring Tom Hanks.  Kids were invited to wear their pajamas or nightgowns to the event, and there were plenty of them around for this children-oriented ride.  But in spite of my relatively advanced age, I liked the movie a lot and I thought it would all be a sweet experience to go on the ride...I wasn't disappointed...

If you saw the move The Polar Express, you'd know that there is a lot of high action in it, including a skiing adventure on the train top as well as a number of breathtaking rollercoaster-like stretches.  Nothing like that here, of course...the ride consisted mainly on recreating some of the movie's main characters, a reading of the story from the original book by Chris Van Allsburg, serving that famous "hot chocolate" (with a big sugar cookie thrown in ), and a lot of fun interaction between the actors and the passengers.  I got as much of a kick out of seeing and hearing the little children's enthusiasm as I did the show itself.  Oh, each of us passengers got our own Polar Express ticket with a letter punched individually, like in the movie...

The Polar Express train rides take place during the Christmas season on railways across the country.  Naturally, in central Florida the scenery isn't going to be snowy.  Still, we witnessed an extraordinarily beautiful sunset over Lake Dora while riding it.  I encourage anyone, regardless of age, to try it out sometime...although we're probably done with the rides this 2017 season.  And watching the movie beforehand will also make the experience more meaningful...

Tuesday's List: My Favorite Christmas Songs

Like a lot of you, I have my car radio preprogrammed to receive my favorite stations at the push of a button.  Some of these play hits from the past, like the ones on 98.5, 99.5, and 100.9.  There are also a couple of Christian-oriented stations on 90.5 and 91.7.  During this Christmas season, I expect (and get) Christmas music on those Christian stations and I naturally expect at least one of the others to play songs of this holiday season as well.  But it turns out that ALL the aforementioned stations are playing only Christmas songs...talk about taking away my choice!  Still, I generally like Christmas music and enjoy hearing the same old tunes over and over again...and it's only for one month, anyway...

Before it's too late this year, I thought I would list my favorite Christmas songs...first the more traditional carols and then the songs with a more popular, secular bent to them.  As for the carols, I love all of them, but that O Holy Night, when it is sung well...there's nothing to compare with it.  And on that second list of my favorite popular Yuletide songs you'll quickly notice that the top two (and another one) are from the movie The Polar Express, which is not only my all-time favorite Christmas movie, but also near the top on my list of all-time favorite movies of any genre. And its wonderful musical soundtrack, I believe, played a big role in that...

********CAROLS********

1 O HOLY NIGHT
2 HARK! THE HERALD ANGELS SING
3 IT CAME UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR
4 GOOD KING WENCESLAS
5 GOD REST YOU MERRY GENTLEMEN
6 ANGELS WE HAVE HEARD ON HIGH
7 SILENT NIGHT
8 WE THREE KINGS OF ORIENT ARE
9 THE WASSAIL SONG
10 DRUMMER BOY
11 DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR
12 GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN
13 THE FIRST NOEL
14 JOY TO THE WORLD
15 DECK THE HALLS
16 AWAY IN A MANGER
17 O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM
18 O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL
19 MARY DID YOU KNOW
20 I SAW THREE SHIPS
21 WHAT CHILD IS THIS?
22 O CHRISTMAS TREE
23 JINGLE BELLS
24 O COME, O COME EMMANUEL
25 WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS

********POPULAR/SECULAR***********

1 BELIEVE [from the movie The Polar Express]
2 WHEN CHRISTMAS COMES TO TOWN [from the movie The Polar Express]
3 TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS PARODY [Bob and Doug McKenzie]
4 I AM SANTA CLAUS [Bob Rivers and Twisted Radio's parody of Iron Man]
5 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS [Band Aid]
6 WHITE CHRISTMAS [Bing Crosby]
7 HAPPY CHRISTMAS (WAR IS OVER) [John Lennon and Yoko Ono]
8 FELIZ NAVIDAD [Jose Feliciano]
9 MR. GRINCH [Thurl Ravenscroft]
10 SNOOPY'S CHRISTMAS [The Royal Guardsmen]
11 BLUE CHRISTMAS [Elvis Presley]
12 WONDERFUL CHRISTMASTIME [Paul McCartney]
13 LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW [Dean Martin]
14 THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR [various artists]
15 WINTER WONDERLAND [various artists]
16 SILVER BELLS [various artists]
17 SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN [Jackson Five]
18 ROCKIN' AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE [Brenda Lee]
19 MERRY CHRISTMAS DARLING [The Carpenters]
20 THE CHIPMUNK SONG [Alvin and the Chipmunks]
21 RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER [various artists]
22 FROSTY THE SNOWMAN [various artists]
23 SLEIGH RIDE [various artists]
24 HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS [Burl Ives]
25 HOT CHOCOLATE [from the movie The Polar Express]

John F. Kennedy's 100th Birthday and Memorial Day

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the first president in my memory (although I was born during Dwight Eisenhower's tenure), would be 100 years old today had he survived his assassination more than 53 years ago.  That he might have lived to today is problematic, for according to Kennedy historian Robert Dallek he suffered from numerous health problems, including the serious Addison's Disease as well as severe pain from osteoporosis of the lower back.  On the other hand, his mother Rose lived to the age of 104.  JFK only served in the White House a little less than three years, but made an enormous, positive impact on both our country and the world at large.  He not only faced down the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, but also began the process of peace between the cold war rivals with the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty the following year.  Many of Kennedy's social proposals, such as civil rights legislation and medical care for the elderly that would be eventually known as Medicare, were held up in Congress and wouldn't be passed until his successor, Lyndon Johnson, an experienced arm-twister with legislators, aggressively pushed the bills through.  And John F. Kennedy gave this nation two great worldwide images: one was the Peace Corps with American volunteers going abroad to help others...the other was the goal of landing people on the moon and returning safely...within ten years.  It was a terrible tragedy when he was murdered on that Friday afternoon in Dallas on November 22nd, 1963...I heard about it back then right after coming back to my second-grade classroom after lunch.  In my estimation, John Fitzgerald Kennedy has been the greatest president during my lifetime and I doubt that there will be one greater than him in the future...

Today was John F. Kennedy's birthday, but this year May 29th lands on a Monday, so it is also Memorial Day.  Thus we also pay our respects to the many brave and most honorable men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice...with their very lives...in order that we may enjoy living in freedom, both to express ourselves and to pursue our own dreams and beliefs.  I saw President Trump on TV earlier at Arlington National Cemetery, presenting the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier...he displayed the solemnity and respect that the ceremony entailed, an admirable job...

I for one am sorry that the tendency has been in the last few decades to diminish the practice of pledging allegiance to our American flag on different public occasions and standing in a respectful, attentive manner at the playing of the National Anthem.  Our national symbols stand for the values that those brave soldiers who died for the United States of America in combat fought to protect...for us and for future generations...

4/9 Palm Sunday Sermon

This past Sunday was Palm Sunday, marking the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.  The guest speaker, Kevin Sides, presented the message by referring to the pertinent passage from Mark 11:1-11, shown here in the New International Version courtesy of Bible Gateway:

11 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, ² saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³ If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”
⁴ They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, ⁵ some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” ⁶ They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. ⁷ When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. ⁸ Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. ⁹ Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

¹⁰ “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

¹¹ Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

 

Kevin placed great emphasis on the discrepancy between the people's expectations of Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and those of Jesus himself: they expected an Earthly king to free them from the heavy Roman yoke on Judea, while Jesus was instead doing the work of his heavenly father, work that had much more far-reaching consequences.  It is this contrast between what we sometimes expect from God and what Kevin terms his "perfect will" that can often get us into trouble, not only in how we interpret our experiences, but also in how we act upon them.  On the other hand, as a Christian I do have expectations of God based on his love for me, and I believe that as long as I understand that although his ways and will are at times beyond my comprehension, he listens to me and wants my greater interests realized and protected.  The conflict is when what I think are my greater interests diverge from God's perspective...

 

A couple of points I'd like to bring up regarding this message. First, on the surface it may seem like riding the colt of a donkey, instead of a more prestigious horse, might be a signal of humility on the part of Jesus...but this was done specifically to fulfill the prophecy of the messiah's coming laid out in the Old Testament book of Zechariah, which would have been widely known at that time among the Jewish population there.  Second, there is no indication that the "crowd" was disillusioned with Jesus when, after seeing that it was already late at the temple, he left to be with his disciples...this seems to be reading something into the text that isn't there.  Furthermore, there's no evidence from what I can see that the "crowd" that greeted Jesus on his triumphal entry was the same "crowd" that later angrily shouted "crucify him!".  To take a more modern example, there were crowds at Trump campaign rallies and then, after he was elected, crowds protesting him...would anyone automatically argue that these "crowds" were composed of the same people?  Nevertheless, I understand and appreciate this message, for it is crucial that we temper our expectations of God with the wisdom that he already knows what is best for us according to his perfect will...

 

You can watch this and other sermons on the Family Church YouTube video website, available through this link: [link].  The Family Church will be holding its Easter services this Sunday morning at 7 (outdoors sunrise service), 9:30, and 11.  It is located at 2022 SW 122nd Street...

Short Stay at Daytona Beach

For the extended President's Day weekend, Melissa and I decided to drive over to Daytona Beach and stay overnight at our favorite hotel here.  The above picture was taken in the late afternoon from our sixth floor balcony...that big shadow is of our hotel over the beach and water.  The patrol car is going by announcing the impending closing of the beach at night to automotive traffic.  I haven't been in the pools yet, but I did get in a nice 2.6 mile run at sunset along the shore to the Daytona Beach pier and back...the beach seems almost deserted, in sharp contrast to what it's like in the summertime or during major holidays.  I'm now writing this from that same balcony at night, overlooking the lighted pool and a burning fire pit warming up the surroundings...it is just a little bit on the chilly side right now and pretty breezy...still, for February this is warm...

We'll be leaving here for Gainesville sometime tomorrow afternoon.  I plan to make good use of the pool and get in another run...although temperatures are expected to climb into the 80s.  Yes, it's wintertime, or so they say...hard to believe with this unseasonably warm weather.  But for our purposes, Melissa and I are enjoying it all and appreciate the chance to take in a little break and a welcome change of scenery...

Quote of the Week...from Martin Luther King, Jr.

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
                                                                                      ---Martin Luther King, Jr.

The day after tomorrow Martin Luther King, Jr. would have turned 87 had not an assassin's bullet cut him down in the prime of his life...or any other number of causes like accidents and sickness that shorten all of our lives and make our earthly existence finite.  Although the great American civil rights leader and advocate of non-violent resistance has been gone for more than 48 years, his legacy continues...and a big part of it is the ample collection of wisdom he has left behind.  I had many quotes to choose from as I honor Dr. King on the weekend of this national holiday, but instead decided to "dig deep": this quote has more meaning in today's world than ever before...

Our scientific and technological development has indeed greatly outstripped our own wisdom.  After all, what good is it when scientists collectively come to a conclusion about a course we need to take to protect our environment or health when we then decide to turn a blind eye to it in favor of our own temporary convenience? Look at all of the wars, crime, broken relationships, and despair around us...is any of it decreasing as we find ourselves with smartphones that allow us 24/7 access to media of all sorts and which enable instantaneous, continual communication with others?  Scientists are exploring and pushing back the limits of vast distances and the very small...and are even unlocking the genetic keys of our own biology...but regardless what happens with science and technology, here we are with our own insecurity, resentments, fear, greed, worry, vanity, and sense of personal weakness.  Reverend King would tell us, I'm sure, that our priorities are misplaced and that we would find ourselves empowered...and much more wiser...if we would only allow our love for each other to grow into what he once called "creative altruism" and make others' well-being an important element in our own lives.  And with that comes the willingness to listen respectfully to others...especially to those whose beliefs and experiences diverge greatly from our own...and to be able to put ourselves in their shoes and see them in a more empathetic light...

Our One-Day Visit to Epcot Center Yesterday

Yesterday my wife Melissa, my son Will, and I drove down to Epcot Center at Walt Disney World to spend the day...and close out the park for the night.  When we arrived around noon, the already overcast sky darkened even more and it began to rain.  The park was packed with visitors, and the lines for the attractions we planned on riding were very long...they do have a system to "avoid" lines by making advance appointments for rides, but most rides were already booked that way before we arrived.  We did manage to go on the three we wanted the most: Spaceship Earth, Test Track, and Soarin'...and had lunch at The Electric Umbrella near the "giant golf ball" and dinner in the "countries" section, at the Tutto Italia Ristorante.  There I ordered Involtini Di Melanzane Alla Parmigiana, composed of eggplant, ricotta, mushroom, parmesan, and tomato sauce...ever since I cooked at a Gainesville Chinese restaurant in the 1980s, I've had a thing for eggplant.  This dish was really g-o-o-d!  

As is the case with a lot of visitors, our stay at Epcot was divided into two parts: Future World in the front, northern part by the parking lots, dominated by Spaceship Earth (the "golf ball") and World Showcase, a semicircular trail of national pavilions, restaurants, and gift shops.  It was a bit stressful going through the human congestion in Future World with the long lines for our rides and the difficulty just going down the sidewalk trying to avoid head-on collisions, but once we crossed over into World Showcase, I felt more at ease in spite of the still-maddening crowds.  After dinner, we visited the various nations and enjoyed a spectacular fireworks show at the very end, all-in-all a good visit, and with Melissa and Will the company couldn't have been better...

Melissa noticed that the Spaceship Earth ride, which provides a visual history of humankind's advancement in technology, seemed to taper off after the 1960s and 70s and then jumped ahead into speculation about the future, appearing to essentially ignore the digital revolution that has drastically transformed our lives during the last few decades.  I agree with her assessment and wonder whether the good folks at Disney aren't slipping a little.  But we all agreed that Test Track and Soarin', once we finally got through the excruciating lines and fastened our seat belts, were great experiences.  Overall, though, my preference for the park was in the World Showcase section, where we could browse around and buy food and drink without the suffocating lines.  By the way, the international composition of the visitors was staggering in its degree, with Chinese appearing to be the dominant nationality...

12/24 Sermon: Christmas at Family, Part 4

Because Christmas Day is falling this year on a Sunday, The Family Church here in Gainesville decided to move its usual services to Saturday afternoon. Yesterday's message, given by our pastor Philip Griffin, is the fourth installment of a series about the nature of Jesus as we approach the celebration of his birth.  The Biblical passage of focus was Matthew 2:1-12, 16 and appears below in the New International Version, made available online via Bible Gateway:

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

⁶ “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
    who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

⁷ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

¹⁶ When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

As Pastor Philip pointed out, although this passage refers to whom we traditionally call the "three kings of the Orient", and admittedly they were from the East...most likely Persia...they were neither necessarily three in number nor were they identified as kings, but rather as sages concerned with the interpretation of the stars and planets (astrology).  So they would definitely be intimately concerned with a strange star in the sky and endeavor to follow it.  And in setting out on their voyage, they sought out the newly born king to worship him and to bestow upon him their treasures.  In this they served as a model for believers: to seek out Jesus in our lives, worship him, and honor him with the treasures of our lives.  And as I see it, those treasures are the expression of the spiritual gifts he has endowed us with...

Yesterday's service had a sweet spirit to it throughout, and I enjoyed the beautiful Christmas carols.  If you want to see Pastor Philip's message, it is available through the following link to YouTube: [link].  Usually I tend to wait until Thursday to write about the weekly sermon at my church, but I made an exception this time because of Christmas.  I'm looking forward to the new message series beginning in January 2017...

Not Too Keen on Christmas Rush

With five days until Christmas, I can really see the traffic around me pick up to a frantic level, with folks rushing about to get in their shopping and mailing before the "deadline".  Ever since late childhood I have never been a big fan of this boisterous, intense, loud, and materialistic holiday season.  I can see how it all can put a lot of pressure on people...it seems to be the antithesis of how the end of a calendar year should be spent.  After all, wouldn't it be better for each of us to instead reflect on what has happened this past year and what we have accomplished, and to consider how to better handle the upcoming one?  Sometimes in order to sort things out in my mind, I like to go to a solitary place that is quiet and not congested with civilization...just the opposite of the emphasis during this time of year on families and friends all coming together, making elaborate plans, and focusing their attention on "stuff".  Well, socializing, planning, and consuming are all good in moderation, but I think that this season over the years has gotten way out of hand.  Instead, for many it is typified by anxiety, worry, and depression.  The idea that we're all supposed to be in the holiday "spirit" and go around hopping and swaying to all the happy Christmas music just ain't my bag...and it never was.  I do think I'm getting a little more adjusted, though...I have yet to blurt out "bah humbug" this time around... 

12/4 Sermon: Christmas at Family, Part 1

It now being December...and with Jesus being the 'Christ' in Christmas, The Family Church, which I attend here in Gainesville, is embarking on a new series centering on the nature and character of Jesus.  The first sermon, delivered last Sunday by Pastor Philip Griffin, focuses on passages from the Gospel of John, Chapter One and is titled "Truths About Jesus".  Here are those Bible verses, in the New International Version by means of the Bible Gateway website:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Pastor Philip uses these verses to present a picture of Jesus: he has always existed, is with God and is God, is the source of life, is the answer to the world's darkness, suffered and died so that we might live, and knows all my struggles...in the pastor's words.  These are all statements requiring faith, something doctrinal in nature and not to be wrestled with through a lot of precise reasoning.  This is especially true with the "is with God and is God" part, which is part of the doctrine of the Trinity that was a matter of major dispute in the first centuries of the church and is still challenged by some groups, which as a result are often regarded as not being truly Christian by the trinitarian churches.  I have to admit to being a little uncomfortable discussing these types of messages, because it has been my experience that, whether I am speaking to someone of another faith or just a non-believer...or even to a fellow Christian with their own arrangement of opinions on the issue, that doctrinal matters expressed in any degree of detail tend to either go nowhere or end in an argument.  That's just my own experience speaking, and yours may be different.  But our pastor picked just the right passage to begin this series about Jesus and I'm looking forward to the next sermon...

If you're interested in seeing this message for yourself, here is a link to my church's YouTube video website: [link]

Plan to Run in Gainesville's 10K Turkey Trot Race on Thanksgiving

As of this writing, I have every intention of running the 10K (6.2 miles) Turkey Trot race here in Gainesville, held each Thanksgiving morning at the Tacachale center off Waldo Road.  I've run it a couple of times before and consider it to be a good warm-up race to longer events coming up in the next few months.  The last time I ran it, the ground was thoroughly soaked from extensive rain in the previous days, forcing the runners at times to hop around the course...composed mainly of pine trails...and try to avoid slipping or stepping into mud.  This time around, though, we've had very little rain, so the course should be easy to tread.  I'll be working the night before, getting off at midnight...I prefer participating in races when I've been off the previous day.  But still, I shouldn't have any problem: I can nap some later, after the race...

American Spacecraft Juno Soon to Arrive at Jupiter

The American unmanned spacecraft Juno, launched in August 2011, is scheduled to arrive at the planet Jupiter, its destination, on July 4th...eight days from now.  Loaded with scientific instruments and experiments designed to gather information about our largest planet, it will then go into an elliptical polar orbit (designed to escape most of the effects of Jupiter's radiation) for several months.  Some of the project's main objectives are to determine the planet's water composition and the nature of its core.  Also, Jupiter's gravitational and magnetic fields will be studied...the former should reveal the distribution of mass in the planet while the latter may enlighten researchers about the general nature of magnetic fields in some planets and how they originate...

Juno is the first deep space probe that is solar-powered.  It initially travelled beyond the orbit of Mars in 2012 and whipped back past Earth the following year to gain the necessary velocity to get to Jupiter.  I'm not sure about any spectacular pictures coming out of this expedition...only common sense would tell the project organizers that this would be a no-brainer, as our space program needs all the promotion it can get...remember the unbelievable shots of Pluto from last year's New Horizons probe?

I was wondering which news media outlet would first let on about Juno's impending arrival at Jupiter.  Others may have covered it first, but it was FoxNews that first broke the news to me yesterday.  Kudos to them, my other reservations about this channel notwithstanding...

So this coming Independence Day, turn on the news and see what's going on deep in space, high above our Jupiter.  By the way, you can see Jupiter in the evening if you look up at the western sky...you'll recognize it because it will easily be the brightest "star" out there...