It was quite a weekend, folks.  I seemed to have covered a lot of ground.  It had so many emotional highs that it border lined on too much, but in light of what I experienced, I'd have it  no other way.

It started off Saturday morning with a round of golf at Rifle Creek Golf Course.  Now, I am sure there would be those who argue the notion that I played golf, especially the course ranger who I am sure will be telling stories about me all season long.  Nevertheless, Rick and I had a great time on a beautiful mid-Spring day and during those irregular times when the ball went in the general direction and distance hoped for, it was bliss.  The best shots of the day for both of us were our tee shots on Hole 9 directly in front of the club house.  All I can say is that if you are going to make a good shot, it should be there.  That evening, my whole family went to Josiah & Ali's place for dinner.  The kabobs of marinated elk meat couldn't have been better.  A perfect ending to a perfect day.

Sunday, the Lord's Day, had me and the church witnessing Josiah and his family joining the church then to be closely followed by Ali and Cori's baptism.  It truly was a time of rejoicing and celebration.  I am so proud of them all.

Monday, had me up at 0430 to travel with Josiah and some of the members of his National Guard unit to attend the 54th Annual 10th Mountain Division Memorial Day Ceremony.  Josiah and his fellow Guard soldiers were the rifle team to provide a 21-gun salute for the fallen heroes of the 10th Mountain.  It was an incredible experience which brings to mind how much I and the nation owes to the bravery and sacrifice of these men, as well as, the everyone who has died in uniform for the cause of our freedom.  On a side note, Josiah and company did an outstanding job and conducted themselves worthy of the uniforms they wear.  I miss the military life.

I was able to complete one other item over the weekend.... my second reading of The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis.  I started to read it with Jeremiah (his first time), but because of the difficulties of coordinating a reading time with him I went ahead and read it myself.  Since it had been many years, and I had hastily read it, I wanted to delve deeper into the richness of the book.  I had always held C.S. Lewis in the highest regard for his incredible mind and ability to write, but I have since becoming Calvinist heard that C.S. Lewis was not a Calvinist.  That said, he never implied that he was, or even that he was a theologian.  What C.S Lewis does is skillfully and with great insight reveal the fallen human condition and points the way out... to Christ Jesus. His ability to peel away the layers which mankind dons to cover his sin is nothing short of a gift of God.  He does that with his amazing mastery of the written word.  I highly recommend The Great Divorce, for those who want to speculate on the greatness and majesty of our Lord and King and His Kingdom.  Whatever he writes and paints a picture of will still remain way short of what is to come for those who are saved by the blood of the Lamb, but sure is fun to peek.

The week before last, I had the pleasure and privilege of reading Tenuous by S.K. Badgett. S.K., aka Stan wrote a delightful autobiographical sketch which kept me riveted from cover to cover.  I recommend it to all readers, but would highly recommend it to the children of the 1950's and 1960's, because he so deftly describes the era and what it was like to grow up then.  It will hold special meaning for those of us who started on the path to the "Celestial City" with Pilgrim in the '60's and the '70's.

With full disclosure of my relationship to Stan, I must say that I have known him over 30 years and I've had the privilege to call him and his family my friends during that period, as well as, brothers and sisters in Christ.  So, it was from that perspective that I anxiously read and learned more of his journey.  He even made an oblique reference to me there, but not so by name only my participation in a portion of his life.  What he does do in many instances though is make references to numerous people I do know, and needless to say the memories came flooding back.  This is due much in part to Stan's deftness in telling of his life in both a captivating way and by his superb skill in writing and handling of the English language.

From the time I met Stan up to the reading of this book, he was always somewhat of an enigma.  Not that he purposely would hold himself in some mysterious way, but rather I knew there was so much more there than what met the eye.  Sadly, I was a rather self-absorbed twenty-something and Stan was married, raising four children, working in the coal mines, juggling life and ambition.  Still, I knew there was more, and I admired him for what I knew, and even didn't know.  I knew he worked in the dark, danger of the coal mines and I looked up to him for it, because I knew that is not where his heart was.  Even then it seemed a profession he simply was not designed for, but he worked hard there to make a better life for his family and himself.  I, also, knew he was a rock climber, but that was a total mystery to me as one who never understood the mindset of the people who did it.  Nevertheless, I knew it was a skill and a passion to be admired.

My biggest regret at reading Tenuous was the realization that I had missed so much of the life of this remarkable man and his family.  Our own paths had diverged in the early '80's - Stan to finish raising his children and making a life for he and Doreen and mine to start my own family and continue along the path of work and life.  I thank God that He led Stan in writing Tenuous.  Now that I have had such an intimate look in to the Badgett's life, I feel as though I will have to sit for many hours with Stan and lay out my lfe to him. After reading his book, I feel that I owe it to him.

I praise God for recently re-uniting us in our common bond of Christian brotherhood and of love of Jesus.  Now, it seems that I have a lot of ground to make up and armed with a new, fuller understanding of who he is, I can hardly wait to continue our journey to Everlasting communion with our Lord. Read it.  You won't be disappointed and you will be the richer for it.  It is a story of a regenerated man responding to God by stepping out in faith with a "tenuous" grip.  What a honor it was to see that faith in motion.

A quick update along the trail...

Jeremiah and Sean have completed standardized testing today.  This will be a foundational step for both of them, as Jeremiah looks to High School and Sean's education will undoubtedly be re-focused to areas he will need to improve.  Anyway, they are done for the day and thus ends the anxiety for all of us.

We are all very excited about our new grandson.  I look forward to getting to know him better in the days to come.  I am very proud of Jon and April as they build and lead their own family.  I know that Eva will be an incredible Big Sister.

One last comment, I am disconcerted by the heavy-handed police tactics employed these days by law enforcement.  They are quick to wave individual rights in favor of "societal" interests.  Almost as disconcerting is the quickness that a large part of the public quickly acquiesces to these obvious violations of personal liberty.  Rather than a default to consideration of the general populace as not being involved in criminal activity, the default is that you are a criminal and thus can be treated as if you have no rights.  Of course, this is not practice held by all police, but a posture being quickly assumed by many.  This is evidenced by the high instance of homes being forcefully entered and completely innocent residents being shot by police as suspects simply because they do not react the "right" way.  Our combat soldiers have reacted more civilly in combat zones that many of our police today.

Tonight was the third installment of the White Horse Inn Discussion Group "Preached Word" series.  I missed the second one, but the manner in which they are presented doesn't hinder you from joining in from right where you left off.  Anyway...

Discussion tonight centered around the importance of preaching the Gospel and the Holy Spirit's application of it into our lives.  Without the efficacious work of the Holy Spirit, the preaching devolves into a self directed alternate Gospel, which Paul expressly denounces even if it came from himself (Gal. 1:8).  To often today's preachers reveal their lack of trust in the God's word by their willingness to compromise the gospel message in favor of the latest and greatest method, program, or desire to make the message more palatable to unsaved and saved alike.

Compromising the Gospel is reflective of today's society, which has fallen into moralistic relativism.  When the Gospel is preached, we are confronted with our sinfulness and rejection of God's rightful claim on our lives.  It becomes an uncompromising fact that we are dead in our sin and need a Savior, who is Jesus Christ.  This leaves little room for the moralistic relativism which we constantly prop up in ourselves to make us feel good about our role in the social fabric and the good that WE do.

Well, this is day one of what I am hoping to be regular and deliberate efforts to give voice to what's going on in my world.  Just as a horseshoer uses the anvil and hammer to shape and form the focus of his work, this will be a forum for me to add shape and form to those parts of my life which others may have interest.  I guess for me it will be a lot of thinking out loud.  I hope it doesn't bore everyone who reads it.