Sand, stars, and the Fountain of Youth

It’s been a while since I blogged so I’m a little rusty. I’ve been on vacation for the past week. My column on 7-26 talks about some of my travels. If you take a look at the slide show underneath this entry (scroll down) you’ll see the cross I refer to in the story, as well as the actual fountain (the hole in the brick) and a couple other photos we took on the grounds of the park in St. Augustine, the oldest city in America. Can that be right? I think it is.

I don’t feel any younger since my drink from the fountain, but, oh well. Couldn’t hurt, right? I do, however, feel reinvigorated after my vacation. I went to Savannah, Ga., then to St. Augustine, then to Disney World. I won’t bore you all with slides of me and Mickey Mouse and all that. I will, however, post the photos I took of churches around Savannah, including, for my Methodist friends, the statue of John Wesley. He served a charge there. I’ll post those later this week.

The column for 7-26 is strongly influenced by all the Hemingway I’ve been reading lately. I go through a Hemingway phase about once a year and start oiling hunting shotguns I haven’t used since childhood and making plans to go fishing I have no intention of completing. I read The Sun Also Rises and A Movable Feast and pretend to be a two-fisted, swashbuckling Clark Gable type. Then it wears off and I go back to theology.

The sea always effects me in strange ways. I always leave it rested but sadder than when I arrived. There’s something tragic about all that expanse of water. I don’t know. I think about biblical figures like Jonah and Paul, and mythological figures like Odysseus, washing up on the salty shore, nearly dead, saved by providence and fortitude and a good story teller. I think about Moses and walls of water and Jesus, coming very close to teasing Peter, about his sinking lack of faith.  At least that’s the way I like to read it.

I have nothing profound to say this go round, only that when I submerged myself in the undulating waves, I felt the pulse of the world itself throbbing in my temples. There’s nothing like the warm wash, the gritty, saline rhythm of a good ocean swim. Thank God for the wonders of nature and for paid vacations.

Peace,

Galen

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The Music Man, and future plans

This week’s feature is a profile on Rev. Rick Brooks, the new minister at St. Luke United Methodist Church. Real character! Literally. In fact, he’s played several characters: Lots of community theater productions – specifically musical theater. Everyone I talked to in writing the feature, members of his former churches, raved about his singing voice. Here are a couple of comments from Dale Pohl. She’s in the article. These are comments that didn’t make it in the hard copy, shared with her permission:

(Start) Maybe this will help….

Rick has such a comfortable, reflective, quiet way about him, which makes such a pleasant surprise when he bursts into song – whether it’s an old-fashioned hymn, an accapela lullaby, or an 80’s cover song.

His voice – powerful, smooth, and SO full of joy – we all selfishly hoped he was singing for us, but Rick doesn’t put his energy into being an entertainer. To see/hear him sing is to know that he enjoys it enormously, but his singing is just a part of himself that he can’t help sharing with others, and we find meaning and motivation there.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a baby boom at St. Luke’s in the next few years! Every baby blessed with Rick’s baptism lullaby is TRULY blessed. (And ladies…. get your tissues ready!)

I think Rick is a seeker… he considers everything and still digs deeper. Follow a few of his thoughts, and yours will probably take off as well.

Good luck with the article…I’ll get my friends to watch for it-
We miss Rick already!
Dale Pohl
(Stop)
The slide show below has a picture of Brooks w/ the driftwood cross mentioned at the close of the article. I hope everyone enjoys it.

Also in the slide show are pictures I’ve taken that didn’t make it into my past articles. There’s Kresta McIntosh, Paula Morrow, Yaneth Mendoza, and Ashley Walden from the church secretaries article. There’s also some pics of my new Muslim friends in Oxford. I still haven’t compiled that material into a coherent whole, yet. One pic shows them performing ritual cleansing before Friday afternoon prayer. Good people. I look forward to talking with them more in future articles.

Things on the agenda for the next few weeks: Rev. George Pulliam just retired after 25 years at St. Paul United Methodist Church. His friend, Rev. Jimmy Barnes is his replacement. I’ll talk with them early next week about passing the baton and the plans for the future of the church.

The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Mississippi is holding is Annual Conference in Tupelo July 27-30. I plan to talk with the presiding bishop and area ministers about what’s on the agenda for the conference.

I recently talked with the Rev. and Mrs. Roy Pitre, authors and planters of a non-denominational church in Cut Off, Louisiana. They have gone through quite a journey together – peaks and valleys – before settling in Oxford about 15 years ago. They lived in a cabin in the woods of Lafayette County for years, living simply, beautifully, refocusing their thoughts and healing their marriage. Now, they’ve begun plans for a new church in Oxford. I’ve spent some time talking with them for a possible future article. Their story was featured in a small piece in the Daily Mississippian, the campus newspaper at Ole Miss.

I’ve raided the Lee County Library’s entire section of Harry Crews (no relation to Daily Journal publishers Billy, though spelled the same). That will be more than enough to get me through the long weekend.

Well, I smell the barbecue already. The grass needs cutting and my wife is waiting.

God bless and Happy 4th of July!

Galen

Check out my Slide Show!