Beauty from pain

Music has been a big part of Lauren Daigle's life since birth.  She grew up in Louisiana, and you can still hear shades of blues, country and cajun in her songs.  As a young teenager, she almost pushed music to the back burner.   But at 15, she was struck with a debilitating virus that kept her our of school for two years.  It was during this time, that her faith in God and love for music merged to produce some of her best work.  And now, any who care to listen can be blessed by her words and music.  One of my favorites here.

The blame game

As the stories of tragedy after tragedy fill our televisions and computers, most of us are compelled to ask "why?".  Why does this continue to happen and how long is this going to go on?  Almost immediately, the blame game ensues.  It seems everyone who is speaking out wants to blame guns or police or politicians or religions or bigots. The blame game seems so senseless to me.  In fact, it is worse than senseless, in that it deepens the vast gaps that already separate us.  Almost everyone agrees that killing innocent people isn't right.  The only people who truly believe that are either mentally ill or pure evil.  The rest of us need to be protected from those people.  What I need to do is think about what I can do.  I can pray for the families that have been busted apart by the violence.  I can examine myself to try to root out any trace of hate, prejudice or bigotry, and I can try to do something today for someone else instead of only focusing on myself.  Please pray for me.

Pirate Adventure

This week, Caroline and her friend Linda, are executing the first ever Lake Camp for the grandkids (no diapers allowed).  Evan, Kate and Emma are in the midst of a pirate adventure.  Captain Hook stole their treasure chest on the first day, and they have been using maps and their pirate ship decorated with hand-made flags to find the treasure.  They came up empty yesterday on Serpent Island, but today will be traveling to Skull Island to try to catch up with the captain and their loot.  I am so blessed to have a wife and friends that put so much importance on making memories with our grandkids.  Oh yeah, they even let the granddads participate.  I made the maps, and Ed is the captain of the ship!

Moms

 

1996

2016

 

I know we just celebrated Independence Day, but I have to recognize some very special mom’s today.  My wife, Caroline, and my brother’s wife, Carolyn, planned and executed a family reunion in Big Stone Gap, VA last weekend.  Craig and Carolyn have six kids of their own and three grandkids.  We have two plus four grandkids.  Needless to say, chaos was one of the major themes of the weekend.  It was a tremendous amount of effort managing transportation, activities, meals and sleeping arrangements, but CiCi and CiCi did it with unbelievable grace.  We visited state parks, swam, watched fireworks and participated in the small town parade on the fourth.  We were actually celebrating the 20^th reunion of when we took our kids to Big Stone Gap in 1996, dressed as Olympians and participated in the parade that year.  You see, CiCi and CiCi had a great model to follow, because my mom, Pat, always hosted summer camp for my kids when they were old enough to be out of diapers.  Cheers to moms who value family, and invest the time, energy and love to make lasting memories for all of us.