The Muse is Loose

West Texas reeks with early Texas history. It is not hard to imagine Apaches peering over the jagged rocks,or riding full speed toward you with their bows and arrows sending an invitation to leave their country. We didn't so the soldiers came to make the pioneer pilgrimage a bit safer; at Fort Davis is still a replica of the early army post that was there. It is worth seeing. Here in Marfa where we are on this Wednesday morning is more history. It is not a real old town,but an interesting place. The original Courthouse is still here. It is a beautiful building built in 1887 along with the jail. In an early photo there are no other buildings! They believed the town would come. With the Southern Pacific in 1885 people came to join pioneer ranchers already here. Across the Rio Grande nearby were other problems. Bandits constantly crossed the border to steal and rob. Ranchers and others were armed wherever they went. In this setting a cultural town with opera house, churches and a school grew up. Ann's grandfather, Rev. John J Maurer came to Marfa in about 1908 as best we know, to pastor a Baptist church with no building of it's own. He also preached once a month in Shafter, a silver mining town some forty miles away. How did he get there? We don't know. It had to be a danger-filled journey. More later on all this. The weather has been wonderful. Last night we drove out to see the mysterious Marfa lights. They have been seen since in 1800's out in a desert area. We stayed until 11:00. The lights did not show! We are in the old Paisano Hotel. Cast and crew of the epic movie, Giant, stayed here. Such notables as James Dean, Rock Hudson, and Elizabeth Taylor. Heading for Alpine and toward the coast.

We are back in Rockport after a whirlwind trip to Fort Davis looking for a clown. "Harlequin means a buffoon dressed in party-colored clothes who plays tricks, often without speaking." Today the quail we traveled so far to see is called Montezuma. When I first started having hopes of one-day seeing it the name was also Harlequin. He is still that to me.

I read of regular sightings at Fort Davis. I mentioned to Ann I wanted to go. She asked, "when?", and I said "now". In less than four hours we were on the road for this six-hundred mile hunt. We checked out the place where it was being seen....no bird at first. I finally got a sighting, though not a real good one. The next morning I took Ann. We parked near the watering hole, but not as close as I wanted because Ann began to say in a voice that meant business, "Stop! Don't move the car!" Believe me, I didn't! "What is it?", I meekly asked. "THE QUAIL ARE RIGHT HERE BY THE CAR! RIGHT HERE!!" They were. Had we opened the door they might have hopped in. It was a pair. The male is the gaudy one. They were pecking away in the grass, paying no attention to us. It was very exciting. These are wild and endangered migrants from Mexico. Not many of them are at Fort Davis State Park. They are BEAUTIFUL birds. Everything now is an anti-climax, but not by much. We saw many other terrific birds and enjoyed an early morning in the sixties!! We were at 5,000 elevation! The nearby mountains are spectacular. Now we began hoping for a cougar sighting. They had been seen there. I wouldn't have wanted it to hop in the car. Saw a tarantula as big as my hand. He had found some delicious kill so was not in a playful mood.

Can't tell everything now. That's the Harlequin story!

We had some traveling surprises last week while visiting West Texas. One was a FIRST I am still stunned by. It happened in Balmorreah, Texas. This tiny village has on it's outskirts an almost unbelievable spring for the desert setting. Hundreds of thousands of gallons burst to the surface each night and day. There is a giant natural pool that is loved by swimmers and snorkelers. The water is a chilly 72o all the time. It flows to a rather large lake and some water is also diverted for irrigation. It is truly an oasis in the desert.

There is one small store there. They have the only gasoline for almost 40 miles. I had failed to top off in Fort Stockton. I paid the clerk $20.00 for gas. There was no price posted. I knew it would be high. The pump cut off at 4.2 gallons! Some mistake for sure. I went in to tell the clerk. It was no mistake. I had just bought my first gasoline for almost FIVE DOLLARS a gallon. I asked him if the locals (mostly poor farm workers) had to pay that. He gave me a shrug. Can you believe being charged that in Texas with oil pumping everywhere? I think I got scalped!

A fun surprise was going to a "hole-in-the-wall" place to eat in Marfa. It was called, Squeeze Marfa. This unique place is the brainchild of Marianne Vollenweider of Switzerland. Her daughter is running the place. She is a fun young woman to visit with. Born in Switzerland, she is returning soon to work in her grandfather's chocolate factory. Her father and mother operate it now. It is in Zurich and Winterthur. The factory was begun in 1943. It is noted for unusual flavors in chocolate and macarons. Everything is done by hand and wrapped in their signature colors of black and white. We bought a small bar. It was all we could afford! You can order it through the Internet if curious. To meet the grand-daughter of this well-known Swiss chocolate-maker, and to meet her in Marfa, Texas (at the "Squeeze") was really special. The food was great. Almost helped me forget the $5.00 gas.

Driving Highway 90 between Alpine and Del Rio (or reverse) calls for a stop at the almost Ghost Town of Langtry, Texas. There are two places open besides the Texas Department of Highways Museum; a little curio shop with some food and drinks, and the Post Office. One of those will be gone in a few weeks. The Post Office is on the "hit list" for closure.

This place only exists because of one of Texas' most colorful characters of a hundred plus years ago. His name was Roy Bean. In the 1880's Southern Pacific Railroad established a grading camp near there. It was first called Eagle Nest and then Langtry, after the engineer and foreman who supervised the Chinese work crew building the tracks.

A tent-saloon operator named Roy Bean moved his operation there. He squatted on railroad property and finally had it for his own. He built a permanent saloon and appointed himself Justice of The Peace. He held court on the front porch of his saloon and dished out colorful justice for some twenty years. Rumors were that several were sentenced to hang, but there is no evidence of that. There are many stories about Bean and Langtry. Hollywood picked up on it and produced a film in 1940 called "The Westerner". It had Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan in it. Brennan stole the show as the Judge and won an Oscar for it.

One of the stories is that Bean named the town after a beautiful English singer, Lillie Langtry, who he had never met. He built a little opera house there for her. She finally came, but it was 1904 and the Judge had died in 1903.

A true story is that a championship boxing match was held there. Matches were against the law in Texas. That didn't stop the Judge. He had it across the Rio Grande, along the river bank, in Mexico. People came by train to Langtry to see Bob Fitzsimmons of Australia defeat Peter Mahar of Ireland! They all had to stop in the judge's place for refreshments!

To see the places today, all this has to be imagined. There are wind and sun baked buildings collapsing all around. The old saloon is still there, almost untouched from the days of the Judge. It is small. I went inside and put my foot on the old iron rail at the bar and ordered a coke. Since I was the only one present the order went unfulfilled. I have no doubt but what this place WAS the only law west of the Pecos, except the law of the six-gun. There were some holes in the saloon that appeared the size of a 44. The law dished out was mostly of Judge Roy Bean's invention.

Western Texas along the Rio Grande will allow one's imagination to run wild. Mine did.

In some settings it might be called a river, but in Del Rio, Texas, it is San Felipe Creek. We stopped along this creek, coming back to Rockport, to look for birds. What we saw was more interesting..... hundreds, maybe even a thousand or more kids of all ages swimming and splashing in San Felipe Creek. The creek is fed by seven springs nearby. They have been giving their cold, clear water to this desert for ages. In 1675 priests coming through named this flow San Felipe for the King of Spain. Indians, soldiers, animals,outlaws, and stagecoach drivers enjoyed it's respite through the years. A city began to grow there so San Felipe meanders through the edge of Del Rio.

It was exceptionally hot the day we were there, but watching those kids swim up and down the river....for free... was really great. The springs begin near the golf course. If you travel Highway 90 you will pass over one of the swimming holes; Horseshoe Park. Down a- ways is Lions Park. They were both busy. I wondered how many of those kids had grand-parents swim there in earlier times.

We also visited the other river in Del Rio, the Rio Grande. To do so we had to drive through the massive black fence,some eighteen feet tall. The fence rambles all along the river. It is supposed to slow drug traffic and illegal immigration from across the river. As we drove along the sandy trail near tall cane it was not long before we had company. It was a familiar white and green SUV. I stopped to let them come on up, rather than tail me. Two young Border Patrol officers were aboard. I had my binoculars in my hand when I got out of the car. They greeted us courteously, but warned that we were about to come to sand that would call for four-wheel drive. We best turn around. We did.

On the far side of the river Mexican kids and adults were splashing about in the Rio Grande. It was a peaceful-looking setting. We never felt unsafe. I am sure we gave those two guys something to chat about.....those old folks driving the Rio Grande on a hot August day, looking for... BIRDS!

They met last week for the 122 nd time! This campmeeting began in 1890 as a dream of Mrs. Exa Means and Brother William Bloys, a Presbyterian circuit riding preacher. A place called Skillman Grove was selected. It is 17 miles southwest of Fort Davis on Hwy.166. The first gathering in 1890 brought 47 people. They built a brush arbor and cooked their meals in Dutch ovens. It was a three day gathering and the women slept in the wagons with the men on the ground. From the first it was understood this meeting was for folks from all churches or no church.

George W Truett was a regular there. One year they had The Old Fashioned Revival Hour quartet to sing. Some of you will remember that radio program with Dr. Charles E. Fuller and "Honey" with the letters. A big tent finally replaced the brush arbor. Later a tin-roofed building was built. It is a family gathering with something for everyone. Brother Bloys did not allow dogs or other distractions. They had antelope for meat in earlier years.

This year the preacher was Dr. Mark Denison of FBC Conroe for the Baptists. Evening service always begins at 8:00 P.M.. It is amazing that something begun in a grove of trees in 1890 is still alive and well. They have made improvements from blankets to beds and coal-oil lamps to electric lights, but the emphasis is unchanged: "This association is formed for the purpose of Worship of Almighty God and instruction in the Christian Religion by preaching the gospel of Christ and employing such other means of Scriptural improvement as may be consistent with and according to the Word of God as found in the Old and New Testament Scriptures" (Articles of incorporation)

So, a missionary preacher of the Presbyterians, drawing a 30.00 a month salary while traveling by horse and wagon left a permanent mark for the Lord high on Skillman's Grove in West Texas. Bloys cowboy camp meeting!

Tucked away in the rocky hills just off Highway 90, halfway between Marfa and Alpine, is Paisano Baptist Encampment. Unlike Bloys Campmeeting I wrote about yesterday, Paisano is uniquely Baptist. Paisano is spanish for Roadrunner, that "beep beep" bird kids and adults have seen in cartoons. It is a unique bird that prefers running over flying. It is fearless, taking on rattlesnakes, other reptiles, and insects.

Paisano, though not as old as Bloys, dates back to 1915. Folks stayed in tents and ate from a chuckwagon. Services for the big annual encampment the last week in July begin on a Sunday evening at eight pm. They close out after breakfast on the following Saturday. It was normal to have 1400 or more attend this meeting. Some of Baptists' great preachers and Bible teachers have preached there. It is a sprawling campground. Ann and I drove around in it last week. It was our first visit there. Permanent buildings dot the landscape. There are church cabins and some individual family homes. The campground was silent. We only saw a couple of cars. There was a feeling of the presence of God at that place. Their greeting at the entrance is "Come Walk With Him". I wondered just how many had done that over ninety-six years. The influence of this old campground is spread around the Baptist world. Some of the named buildings were folks familiar to us.

Summer encampments have a vital role in our Christian lives. Glorieta and Ridgecrest are our two Southern Baptist encampments. I have been to both but prefer Glorieta, near Santa Fe, New Mexico. An old Texas Baptist Encampment near us is Palacios. It may be as old as Paisano. I will research that and give a report next writing, Lord willing.

Here's a picture of the kitchen crew at Paisano in 1921:

To many it is simply Palacios Encampment. Palacios is a family name in Spanish. It's meaning is "palace". As a Baptist Encampment it had it's birth through the influence of Baptist Young People's Union (BYPU). After their annual gathering in Bonham in 1901 they adopted this unanimous statement: "Be it resolved that the convention appoint a committee to arrange for an encampment next summer at some point where all can meet for some days and enjoy a feast of soul and rest of body". The committee chose a plot of land near Laporte. They had the first gathering there in 1905...and nearly washed away! Lacking street car and rail service from Houston it was decided to look some more. W.H. Travis,. President of The Baptist Academy at Palacios, recommended they move there. After much discussion and consideration of other locations they finally chose Palacios. On July 3-12, 1906, the first encampment was held at Hamilton Point.

Speakers came from everywhere. The first year they had one of Texas Baptist's greatest preachers, Dr. George W. Truett, of First Baptist, Dallas. He would preach the opening sermon for the next eighteen years! The entrance fee was one SILVER dollar! Lots for building cottages were available for lease for $25-$50 dollars for twenty-five years.. Five hundred tents were available. Cots were fifty cents. A bale of hay was furnished for free. Cooking was done over open fires and charcoal furnaces. There was a restaurant in town and food stand on the property. Twenty-five cents would get one a decent meal.

A gulf storm hit in 1934 and brought about the building of a seawall. A cafeteria opened in 1941. The auditorium was destroyed by another storm in 1942. An open-air tabernacle was built in 1944 and a swimming pool was added in 1955.

In 1961 Hurricane Carla churned ashore, destroying 13 dorms and living quarters, seriously damaging others. Hundreds of volunteers came to help them rebuild. The Roberts Conference Center and Thibodeaux Conference Center were built. Ulise Thibodeaux, the conference manager, was killed in an automobile accident on the curve near our Rockport airport. Orville Roberts was Associational Missionary and former pastor at El Campo. He was a dear friend. His wife is in a care facility in Calallen.

It is estimated some 450,000 people have attended Palacios through the years for various retreats. Some 38,000, by records, have come to know the Lord there. It is a special place in the lives of many Texans.

Texas Baptist Encampment is less than 100 miles from Rockport, between Port Lavaca and Bay City. It is right on the bay. Stop by to see it when traveling Highway 35 toward Houston. It is as different from Paisano in it's setting as a place can be. God will meet His people on any grounds, and at any time, when we make ourselves available to Him.

It is Sunday morning and Ann and I are preparing to go to Dallas, rather than church. Her sister-in-law Frances Maurer passed away. It was not sudden, as such, but a bit unexpected at this time. I have been asked to bring the funeral message as I did for her husband, Johnny. The BLOG will be silent for a few days. Hope you will read the encampment ones for sure. There is so much great Baptist history in these. We will go to Dallas, then Shreveport for burial. Breathe a prayer for our safe return.

We did not know last Sunday our week would involve a funeral trip to Dallas, then a graveside service in Shreveport.It was all okay. We would have gone whether or not I was leading the service. There were some good times meeting people I did not know. The attenders in Dallas were a mixed group from an SMU law professor to Calvin Duprie. Yesterday in Shreveport some old friends of days long past came to show their respects for Frances Maurer. One couple had played golf with Johnny and Frances back in the sixties at the famed Pebble Beach course along the Pacific Ocean!

We had a special visit on the way home yesterday as we stopped to see Drs. Jim and Sandra Coats from Wharton. Jim was Dean at Wharton County Junior College and Sandra was on the teaching faculty. They live on the same place where Jim was born, near Nacogdoches. He had a house and barn built there and raises some cattle. These were special friends for many years, but we hadn't seen them for a long time. Our GPS took us to their country home. Ann called them and Jim answered. He said, "Are you in the area?" and Ann said, "We are in your driveway!." He laughed and said "I will be right out". Sandra was doing volunteer work in the City, but came around 4:20. We left at 5:00 having had a great renewal of fellowship with these wonderful folks. They invited us to stay, but we needed to get closer to Houston and home. Livingston was our stopping place. "Catfish King" was targeted. It was sinfully delicious.

Back at the roost. Rest a bit and share some more tomorrow.

The Baptists in Arkansas must have heard about Paisano and Palacios for they purchased 200 acres of land from the Masonic Lodge at Siloam Springs in 1925. It had a spring and live creek running through the grounds. They paid $10,000. "Siloam", as it was called, was used mainly for adults.

After World War II Siloam began to change toward summer youth camps. As a teen-ager in Fort Smith my first church camp experience was there. It was a beautiful place. Hundreds of kids and adults came from all over Arkansas. We would eat in a huge dining hall and hear music and sermons from an open-sided tabernacle. You could even bring a blanket and sit on the ground. There were classes all morning on different subjects. Missionaries would come from all over the world. I remember one, Orvil (sp) Reid from Mexico. He was a physical specimen and allowed blocks to be broken on his chest with a sledge hammer!

My gang of guys were interested most...not in the missions or preaching...but in girls! They were from everywhere, and we would win them all! To do that we had secret weapons brought from Fort Smith. They were BOW TIES! These bow ties had little wires and batteries that ran to our pockets. Built into each side of the tie was a red light. You could press a button in your pocket and the red lights in the tie would flash. It was a girl attractant better than Old Spice!. Of course you were selective where you flashed it. You also had to have something to say after they giggled and pointed at your tie. I wonder what happened to those ties?

It was also at Siloam where I first went to a Sunday movie! That was strictly forbidden at home. On a Sunday afternoon some of us walked into Siloam Springs and decided to see a movie. It was "Blood And Sand". I was with a girl. I felt so guilt stricken I feared the building would burn or the end of the world would come. Haven't done that again! I ended up, with all my guilt, being baptized again after going back to Fort Smith. My wise old Pastor tried to talk me out of it but I went ahead. Later I came to realize my conversion was at nine and my real baptism was in a little lake or pond near Cavanaugh Baptist Church. Being a teen-ager was not easy back then, either, when it came to right and wrong.

Some of our preachers were flaming evangelists. Others were very interesting and easy to listen to. One of those was a man named Chester Swor. He was great with one-liners. I still have one of his books. He had a nasal voice, not very loud. He was a little guy but could get your attention and also make you laugh.

Our camp song was something like this:

O, next to my home I love you Siloam
In the land of a million smiles
It's great to know you and just to show you
We have come for miles and miles
To see the moon-light softly glowing
The night birds calling in the tree-top, over by the bubbling spring
Surely God in His great love
Sent you down from heaven above
O, I hate to go home
Siloam, I love you.

My batteries ran down so we had to go. Those are memories from Siloam back in the late forties. Just a few years later as a college student and summer youth minister I would be driving an old school bus from Brinkley, Arkansas, loaded with kids on the way to SILOAM.

This is not about people but things that have made their exit in the last ten years. These came from an old TIME magazine I picked up while waiting for an oil change.

1. MIR SPACE STATION - This Russian space station orbited for fifteen years. It finally made a big, fiery splash in the Pacific, March 23, 2001. Mir no more.

2. CONCORDE - This faster than sound super jet used by British Airways and Air France was forever grounded October 23, 2003. It was made to fly the super rich folks super fast. They somehow missed it that the super rich now have their own planes. Common folks could not afford such an expensive flight. They were in concordance, the SS jet had to go. It was breaking them.

3. THE OLDSMOBILE - No longer could one get behind the wheel of a brand new Oldsmobile, after production was ceased April 29, 2004, I always saw them as really good cars. Being good is not always good enough. You can check that out in the Bible.

5. KODACHROME - Some of the great colors pictures of all time were with this film. It was a victim of digital cameras. We don't really mind too much. It cost a bundle to get back pictures that would often be left in the envelope to simply leave another generation guessing, "Who is that woman standing next to Gertha?". June 22, 2009.SNAP!

6. LEHMAN BROTHERS - September 15, 2008. This company over leveraged itself on risky investments and had to file for the LARGEST bankruptcy in U.S. history. That started the plunge of our global financial system. We will be paying for this debacle for a long, long time.

These are not all, but simply reminders that things die as well as people. They die and stay that way. We have a choice. "Because I live, you shall live also".

It is good we aren't in charge of "picking" storms. We are so eager to get the "right" one we will take most anything out there. Irene was our hope and she headed North." Goodnight Irene ... Ill see you in my dreams", or nightmares.

We do think we need a tropical storm, bringing five to ten inches. We'd like the winds to not exceed 40-50 MPH. No twisters. Some high tide, but not over two feet. Coming ashore south of us in the King Ranch but sending the drought-breaking moisture our way.That's what we need, Lord.

Yes, we lay it all out to God....and He is saying, "Since when did you get into weather?.You have not done too well in simply living and being the people I want. How could you ever think that I would trust you with the weather? This earth is a rather large globe and all this weather has to fit together. How about simply leaving all that up to me?"

Horatius Palmer and Mary Baker wrote this gospel song about seventy years ago. It is based on the biblical account of Jesus calming the seas when His disciples thought they were going to drown. The music rings in my mind even as I begin to type the words:

Master, the tempest is raging
The billows are tossing high
The sky is o'ershadowed with blackness,
No shelter or help is nigh!

Carest thou not that we perish?
How canst Thou lie asleep
When each moment so madly is threat'ning
A grave in the angry deep?

The winds and the waves shall obey My will
"Peace be still. Peace be still."
Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea.
Or demons, or men, or what-ever it be,
No water can swallow the ship where lies
The Master of ocean and earth and skies!

They all shall sweetly obey My will
"Peace be still. Peace be still"
They all shall sweetly obey My will,
"Peace, Peace be still."

Maybe we should back off from telling God exactly what we need at this time, and simply trust him to send, or not send, from His storehouse of blessing what is best for us.
.

I wrote about the Arkansas Baptist Encampment I attended as a young person. Thanks to my sister-in-law Chloye Pogue of Little Rock, I will share a bit about some Arkansas folks who made it good in the world of business. Top of the list will be Sam Walton. Need I say more about Him? There is Bill Dillard of the stores bearing his name. Don Tyson sells chickens for his scratch. J.B. Hunt rules the highways with his eighteen-wheelers. Charles Murphy, Don Reynolds, Wintrop Rockefeller, are some others.(Rockefeller wasn't born there but moved to Arkansas when he could)

From my home town of Fort Smith comes a name in ticket printing you can find most anywhere. It is Weldon Williams And Lick. This business began in 1898. They began printing para-mutual tickets for racetracks. They moved to window stickers, concert, football, and other sports tickets. Today most NFL tickets are printed at W W & L. Ringling Brothers has used them for many years. They have more than 300 employees. Chauncy Lick operated the business from 1898-1948; Cap Lick from 1948-1961. Grandson, Bud Jackson, from 1961-1985, and great grandson, Jim Walcott, from 1985 to present.I graduated from Fort Smith High School in 1950. Sally Lick was in my class. She was just the gal whose daddy printed movie tickets.

Hopefully, the image of that Arkensaw Hillbilly is fading a bit. On both sides of the political spectrum there is Bill Clinton and Mike Huckabee ( from my College, Ouachita.) In sports, Bear Bryant was from Fordyce, Glen Campbell from Billstown, Johnny Cash from Kingsland,

I close this little Arkansas flashback with these famous words......"Whoooo Pig! Soooey! Razorbacks!"

We did not know it when we married, but Ann and I both had grandfathers who were early Baptist preachers. Her grandfather-preacher was John Joseph Maurer, born March 18, 1873 in Fayette County, Texas near Cistern. His father was from the Rhine Province of Germany. His mother was from Northern France, and the daughter of a Protestant minister who was sent as a missionary to Montreal, Canada.

John Joseph Maurer was about seventeen when his parents moved to San Antonio. He was converted in an early Baptist meeting in that city and was baptized by First Baptist Church in the San Antonio river. He was the first Anglo baptized in the city.

He went away to Baylor, then Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, as he had felt called to preach. Returning to Texas Brother Maurer pastored several churches in Southwest and West Texas. He helped start three churches in San Antonio; Prospect Hill, Central, and Calvary Baptist.

While serving as an Associational Missionary he preached to a little group of Baptists in Boerne, Texas. There he appointed a building committee to raise funds to buy a lot for their first building.

In 1908 the family would move to Marfa, Texas to be pastor of the Baptist church there. He would also preach at the silver mining town of Shafter, Texas. The Marfa church met in the building of the Christian Church. His salary was three hundred dollars a year. In 1911 they would have a son, Will Maurer, graduate from High School. In his class was Juan de la Cruz, who would be the first Hispanic to graduate at Marfa. Will Maurer would later become a doctor with his practice in Chicago.

The Maurers' would return to Marfa in 1917 for another three-year ministry.He buried many people who died from the flu epidemic that swept the country. He would move to the Valley where his son, John J was living (Ann's father), and would die there in early 1925 in Pharr.

There are so many gaps in what we know of his ministry. It is amazing how God's work spread throughout this new state in those days. It was never an easy ministry, but it never is.

Some days are simply boring and long. Others have so many events happening one can hardly keep up. That was yesterday.

To begin....we had rain! Not a gulley washer but it was rain. Actually, there were two of them. They would add up to about an inch.

The East Coast prepares for the "storm of the century", some are saying. It is affecting millions of people along the Atlantic. The Big Apple could get hit hard. We certainly feel for them.

Grandson Dempsey played in his first JV game as a sophomore. He scored THREE touchdowns! One of them was called back. The other two were the only scores for his team. They won! Those were the first he had ever scored in his three previous years of games.

Clint Culp had a good story done on channel six by Tyler Garrett, sports announcer for the station. Clint is the featured character in an NFL commercial to be seen this Fall on all the games. He ends up standing on the field with one of the teams. I called Tyler to tell him Clint was a Corpus product and I thought it would make a good story. It did. Clint called me to thank me for doing my part. I was glad to do it. He promised that Ann and I would get invited when he wins an Academy award. I can hardly wait! That might be almost as exciting as seeing the Montezuma Quail!

It is another day. Not just any other day, for Ann is having a birthday. Trombones would be appropriate. Seventy six of them!

Irene is doing her thing. The Weather Channel crews are doing theirs. Their forecasts are making no difference to Irene. She is going where she wills. In the meantime these men and women of foolhardy courage lean into the wind, mike in hand and rain in face, and tell us what is happening. In the dry climate of some operation room the "experts" are making their calls. Irene plows on doing her thing.

How well are they doing at predicting the unpredictable? We shall see in the hours ahead. In the meantime our largest city has ground to a standstill. Planes and trains are grounded. Stores are closed and boarded up. A power beyond political and governmental control is reminding these mere mortals who is still in control.

We are all reminded from time to time, more so in recent months by quakes, floods, extreme heat and drought, tornadoes, and a hurricane, that this world we live in is in control of a Divine Hand. God has to get the attention of our high tech minds and bring us back to thoughts of mortality and immortality. Are we listening? Are we getting the message? I hope so, but doubt that many are.

I love this simple spiritual that says it all:

He's got the whole world in His hands
He's got the wind and rain in His hands
He's got the tiny baby in His hands
He's got you and me, brother, in His hands.
He's got the whole world in HIS HANDS.

I had cake for breakfast this morning. I also had it yesterday and Saturday. I ate some on Friday.It is a birthday cake. The chef was Dr. Robert Edwards. He baked it for Ann's birthday. It is a pound cake. Pound cakes are good anytime. This one is very special.

One year ago in early August Ann and I traveled with Bob and Jimmie Box, Robert and Dolores Edwards to Arizona to look at birds. They did not disappoint us. Southeast Arizona is a great birding place. We stayed at Cave Creek Ranch near Portal, Arizona. Dolores was already feeling the effects from ALS, but she was a trooper. It was not an easy trip for her but we were all glad she went. Today she is confined to a wheelchair and uses a talking machine to communicate.Her food is through a tube.......... but, yesterday she was at church. (So what's your excuse?)

Robert baked the pound cake while caring for Dolores. That made it extra special. He said he only made two a year and this was the second one. We were lucky! No, we were blessed...and are blessed to have Robert (my birding buddy) and Dolores (everyone's friend) as our special friends. Let's not forget Jennifer. She took on the role of Connie Hagar this last year and performed at the state Ornithological Convention here in Rockport. I wrote the monologue, but no one wanted to do it. Jennifer did, and was the star of the convention!

So you see what makes this pound cake so sweet and tasty? The folks behind it all. They are an inspiration to us , and many, many others. What they mean to Ann and I, and to all our church. is much more than "A Drop In The Bucket". (The book written by Dolores)

It was Bill Shakespeare who penned these words: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Tour guides in London tell folks seeing the places around Stratford on Avon that Mr. Shakespeare was saying much more than the sweetness of a rose aroma. Bill, they say, was taking a dig at the nearby Rose Theatre, which was a competitor to his Globe Theatre. The Rose was notorious for smelling like anything but a rose.

What's in a name? This scorching EIGHTH MONTH we are about to wish goodbye to is named for the Emperor, Augustus Caesar! Aren't you touched a bit by that? A far cry from the emperor of long ago is a second definition for august....."marked by majestic dignity or grandeur". A speaker stands and says something like this: "I am honored today and deeply moved to have the privilege of standing before this august body.....". So, what's in a name? Is an august body one found expired by the intense August heat, or is it a gathering of distinguished scholars or clergy?

My point.... if I have one this late August morning: At times names mean little or nothing. They are simply names. At other times they mean everything. I would rephrase Will by saying, "What's behind a name? That's what really counts.

I cringe when I hear the name of Jesus lightly tossed about by unthinking, irreverent people. It is a sign they do not know much if anything about this one who is the Son of God. Quickly, it comes to mind what the Apostle wrote in Philippians: "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the NAME that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and ON EARTH, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

What's in a name?

Thursday, the Lord willing, Ann and I head West. Our first stop will be Midlothian to see a couple of ball games and visit with the Dupries. Saturday we go on to Dallas to "house sit" for Charlie and Jeanne Warren. They are leaving for a two-week trip to Europe. Our plans are to return to Rockport September 18.

We have never "house sat" before. This is a large house in North Dallas. While there we can see our son, Lee and his family. There are other friends of many years in that area. We can also visit places of the rich and famous; places where they spend their money!

I will send some BLOGS through Charles Fake to update you on life in the big city. I have never lived in Dallas. Visits there have been brief. This will be a good long look at urban life. My duty will be to bring in the mail and paper and water some plants the sprinkler system misses. A maid will come a couple of times a week to do maidly chores. I think I might like this job.

Ray Pressley will help keep things alive at our house in Rockport. Hopefully he will be supplemented by predicted rains. If a storm comes we would be leaving anyway. Boards are prepare for the windows. Some saint will need to attach them.

So Dale and Ann's next Great Adventure looms out in front. Pray for us for safety in travel. I hate big city traffic. Hate it! A little lady will be riding with us in a box telling us where to go. Her favorite word is "recalculate". Whatever that means.