Happy Sixth of July

Man. Work is getting in the way of things I want to do, like eat. I didn't get to eat dinner today, except a bowl of fruit, so I'm starvating to death. Anybody got a biscuit? I've had two salmonella (peanut butter) foldovers and a protein shake and those have WAY worn off.

I might be hungry because I walked about 100 miles this weekend, first in the sun which was beautiful and then in the rain Sunday for about two hours which was also beautiful.

Twice this weekend I saw Charlton Heston crash his plane into the back of the USS Enterprise, which brings the total to 123 times I've seen Pilot Heston do this. This is at the end of the movie 'Midway,' which is a Fourth of July tradition for me, mostly by accident. I sit down to eat late-night cereal and there is Charlton, each 4th of July holiday, trying to land a crippled plane. I never have quite understood why he didn't bail out. Regardless, we won the pivotal battle and, eventually, the war.

Also saw some of the 'Dirty Dozen.' Jim Brown got killed. Again.

And I saw some of "My Fair Lady," which came on after "Midway," for reasons I don't understand, since it had nothing to do with war, July, or even the Japanese. Or the Germans. I made it to the part where Audrey Hepburn sang "Wouldn't it be Loverly?" before I had to go to sleep. I wanted to watch it all.

Went to my big sister's Saturday. Keith, one of my two great brothers-in-laws, grilled BBQ chicken and some ribs. They deserved a blue ribbon. The beans were in a Dutch oven and they were on the grill too. Great. Sissy made potato salad. It rocked. She also made a flag cake; the red stripes were strawberries and Emma, who is precious and little, ate various stripes before we actually cut the cake. Greg, one of the twins, complained because he counted the blueberries, which were the states, and there were only 49. "I like a symmetrical cake," he said, and you can't really blame him. It ate good though; I had two pieces.

And Abigail was there. And Adeline. And Bishop. Along with Emma. They are all little people. I'm no longer ashamed to say it but I am still embarrassed that I didn't really know how precious they were until this past year. They hug me now and kiss me. Greg doesn't but he's old and married and doesn't like unsymmetrical cake so I don't want him to anyway.

It was a lot of fun.

Also saw Billy Graham -- late-night cereal again! -- on television. It was a 1979 crusade from Vanderbilt Stadium. Had to watch the whole thing. It was a break, too, because I needed it.

Sunday morning in Sunday school the subject of the 'image of God' came up and I studied up some on that Sunday afternoon. For the longest time I couldn't honor the image of God in you because it was broken in me. When that's the case, you trample on people whether you mean to or not. We do that because we don't really understand the image of God, what it means. I've got to study some more on that. I do understand now that everyone is made in the image of God, which is reason enough to treat everyone with a gentleness and courtesy. (Everyone except maybe my nephew Greg, when he talks about my sister's cake.) Anyway, I need to come to a better understanding of this. I do know the solution though: and that's to face Jesus. That reflection, his image, is what cures you. He was born poor, almost killed as a baby, eventually more or less lynched on trumped-up charges, the only human being to live a perfect life and perfectly reflect the image of God ... When you know he did that for you, or better when it moves from information to sensation, then it gets clearer every day. Facing that is what changes a heart. Another picture of grace. The short answer is that the problem is always sin, and the solution is always grace.
Every time. . . Every week I hear things I've heard all my life, like "the image of God," and I realize that what I know about it, really, is almost nothing. All the more reason to read the Bible and pray and talk to people like you about it ... More later...

Daddy update. Heart surgery was three weeks-plus ago. The doctor says he'll feel 100 percent better in about six weeks, but he won't be 100 percent back to where he was for a year. He says it's the toughest physical thing he's ever been through. Thank you for your prayers for him. He's hanging in there.

And I'm still very hungry.