Biloxi Blues

Tuesday last week while on my way to work I received an almost tearful phone call from Holly.

Our home in Biloxi has been on the market since November and the realtor had just called to tell us that our A/C was blowing hot air, that water was leaking through the ceiling and onto the floors where it had been soaking for who knows how long.

I flew there Wednesday night to assess the damage and get contractors to begin repairs. All in all the damage turned out to be pretty manageable. The floors were an easy fix and a trusted contractor friend has begun repairing the damage to the ceiling. The A/C guy came and he and I got up in the attic where I showed him what I could see that was wrong and what I expected to be fixed. He apologized profusely. Apparently the crew that was working for him at the time of our install has since been fired for a series of shoddy installs. He is working to make it right.

My friend Matt Forester was able to take off and fly over there with me. We landed in New Orleans late and did an 2AM tour of the coastline destruction on Hwy 90 from Bay St. Louis to Biloxi. In the process, I got pulled over for speeding (60 in a 45) in Long Beach. I had consumed one Scotch on the plane so I had to be interrogated by a bored cop and do the drink test (breathalizer) on the side of the road. I passed. He asked me about my job and what I was doing in town and asked Matt a bunch of random questions too. Thankfully he ended up asking us to slow down and let us go.

We ate mighty fine fried Oyster Po-Boys and had all the sweet tea we could drink at The Ole Biloxi Schooner with friend David Skinner for Thursday lunch. Thursday night we ate Pizza and played the Nintendo Wii with adopted Dad Doug Leavengood and friend Jordan Sikkema. Friday and Saturday were mostly spent managing the A/C contractors and doing other small fixes around the house. I did stay up late Friday night (until 5AM-ish) drinking beer and discussing theology w/ neighbor Kevin Moore and friends Scott/Angela Moore and had to be up again at 8AM w/ the arrival of contractors... I was a little tired.

Finally today, I loaded up and drove to BSL to attend Lagniappe Church on my way to the airport in NoLA. While there i got to see even more old friends- Andy & Cammie Chapman, Curt & Kelly Moore, Ron & Linda Junkin among others.

All in all it was a good, productive weekend. I've attached some pictures of the minor damage as well of some pictures of the maturing landscape.

B

Water Damage.

Water Damage.


Batch's foot through the ceiling damage (a mis-step in the attic).

Maturing Landscapes.

And another view.

The youth from Christ The King Houston (where we are members now) visited Lagniappe this summer for a week of service and this is the very cool sign they left as a rememberance.

Beautiful words...

... from a college acquaintance and certainly words I need to be reminded of daily (and especially so lately).

Is God faithful? Sometimes, Jesus hid himself; he hid himself when the crowds expected, and even demanded, the wrong things, the self-protective things, from him. He is faithful only to his expectations, his demands, his un-self-protecting promises--his own words.

With those words, does he promise redemption? Heartache? Speak into our lives sun and fields and fears and longings and loves? Trucks and sunshine turning on the wheels? I'm not sure. But I am sure that when I shrink into myself, try to protect myself, he doesn't say, "I said, 'Don't mess up'" but "You messed up, and I have promised to love you still; there is a future for us."

So help me, God, help my wife love me still. Help my child love me still. May I say to him not "Don't mess up" but "When you do . . . ." This is labor. The sun is setting. The fields are ripening. We need not protect ourselves. We have a future.

Read the whole entry here.

Low Qual/High Qual

Low quality picture of a high quality fish.

I caught the biggest fish of my life today and all I had to take a pic of it with was my cheap phone. So the quality of the photo is weak, but the fish was awesome.


It weighed in between 17-18 pounds and about 28 inches. I was fishing with cut bait about 20-25 miles off shore in about 90 feet of water south of Freeport, TX.

We (my buddy Matt Forrester and I) also caught some red snapper, mahi-mahi and trigger fish. Good times. We're eating fresh fish tonight.

Big thanks to Matt for the invite.

B

Good Soldier by Mark Driscoll

Compelling take by Mark Driscoll on men's issues facing the church today, especially as related to challenges in planting churches.

When dogs dream

Intriguing Map

Holly B- Triathlon Master

Holly totally rocked it in the triathlon this weekend. Here are the official results:

Overall Rank

Class Rank

Swim

Swim Rank

Trans1

Bike

Bike Rank

MPH

Trans2

Run

Run Rank

Pace

Final

437 of 2601

13 of 389

00:20:44

528

00:03:47

00:44:15

674

17.6

00:02:16

00:29:56

472

00:09:39

01:41:00

In her age group, she came in 81/418 and her swim (1/2 mile) was within a minute of some of the top 10 finishers. She was amazing.

Here she is coming in toward the end of her biking leg (12 miles).


And here she is finishing after her run (3.2 miles).


And here's me after the race being the ever-supportive husband/beer-security-guy.

Housing Not Moving Praying

A few days ago we asked your prayers about a potential buyer for our house.

We didn't get an offer.

So, we still own a beautiful house in Biloxi should you know anyone interested.

Please keep praying that it would sell soon.

Thanks,

B

Housing Moving Praying

I know of at least a few folks who still read this page from time to time. If you're out there today and you're into praying, we'd ask you to pray that our home sells.

We understand that even now it is being considered by a family. We are told they like it, but they just haven't made a decision yet. We would like very much for them to offer to buy it. So, if you're so inclined, please pray that they would decide to offer on our house, that they would offer generously and that we could close the Biloxi chapter of our life soon.

It is a fantastic house that was carefully and lovingly renovated from the frame outward. Everything is new from the plumbing to the plaster. It is in what was once a magnificent neighborhood and will be once again after the wounds inflicted by Katrina heal in a few years. The street is lined with beautiful, old oak trees along the Biloxi Bay and the people who reside in that little stretch of land adjacent to the water are some of the most friendly neighbors we have ever had. We will miss them dearly.

If you'd like to see the virtual tour, you may click here.

Anyhow, enough of the sales pitch. Please pray if you will.

Batch

More on suffering

A friend sent me a Vern Poythress article a while back; you can go to it by clicking the title of this post or by clicking here. I found parts of it instructive, particularly the bit below.

One side note: Proythress is one smart dude; however, he is wrong about where Hurricane Katrina landed and what casued the damage to New Orleans. I doubt I'll ever have another opportunity to correct him, but I digress.

I found this comment of his particularly poignant.

In particular, every disaster is a forerunner of the Last Judgment. It should be used as an occasion to reflect on the transitory character of this life (1 Cor. 7:31), on the fact that God gives us blessings that we do not deserve (Matt. 5:45), and that if we are rebels against him we ourselves deserve the worst of what the victims experienced.

That's good stuff. Our culture (the broader culture as well as church culture) makes every effort to avoid suffering at all costs. Our prayers are laced with pleas for safety, not from the snares of the evil one but safety from suffering or even safety from discomfort. I know I'm guilty.

As Christians, we're called to look at suffering differently, as a blessing. The judgement of God for his people is often loving discipline. His blessings are not always pleasant. He judges, he disciplines, he blesses.

1 Peter 4: 12-13
12Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

Romans 8: 16-17
16The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Ron Paul for President

I was first introduced to Ron Paul (not personally, but to his politics) by a good friend. He pointed me to Paul's congressional site a few years ago.

I've been vaguely familiar lately with his pursuit of the 2008 presidential nomination. Another good friend has been preaching the merits of Paul for President as well in an email discussion group.

I've just spent the last hour or so watching clips of Paul in debates and on both the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and on Real Time with Bill Maher. If you watch them you'll see a television rarity- a republican candidate being received warmly, even greeted with a measure of glee on each of these two shows with decidedly non-republican hosts and audiences.

Color me impressed.

He is intelligent, articulate and truly principled. He actually answers questions- he doesn't do the typical sidestep on the tough ones. And he offers his opinions warmly and graciously, without the typical self-righteous sneer of many of today's politicians.

As I soaked up his responses, I actually felt excitement about the political process, an emotion I've probably not felt since I was a sheepish child "campaigning" for my preferred candidate back in high school.

Here is an excerpt on Paul from his wikipedia entry.

Paul advocates a limited role for the federal government, low taxes, free markets, a non-interventionist foreign policy, and a return to monetary policies based on commodity-backed currency. He has earned the nickname "Dr. No" because he is a medical doctor who votes against the bills he believes to be unconstitutional.[1] In the words of former Treasury Secretary William Simon, Paul is the "one exception to the Gang of 535" on Capitol Hill.[2] He has never voted to raise taxes or congressional pay, and refuses to participate in the congressional pension system.[3] He has consistently voted against the USA PATRIOT Act, the Military Commissions Act of 2006, and the Iraq War.

And here is an excerpt from his campaign website.

He has never voted to raise taxes.
He has never voted for an unbalanced budget.
He has never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership.
He has never voted to raise congressional pay.
He has never taken a government-paid junket.
He has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch.

He voted against the Patriot Act.
He voted against regulating the Internet.
He voted against the Iraq war.

He does not participate in the lucrative congressional pension program.
He returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year.

I highly recommend investigating Mr. Paul and his campaign. If you want to see more clips of him engaging hosts, opponents, etc... you can go to his site on YouTube.

MUST READ: Breaking Free of Suburbia's Stranglehold

Families Simplify Lifestyles in Quest for Meaning That Constant Hustle Obscured

By Annie Gowen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 3, 2007; Page A01

Jennifer McNelley's life felt like one big errand -- an endless series of Target runs and school drop-offs and commuting to two jobs from her Loudoun County home.

McNelley, a single mother of a 6-year-old, was feeling "overwhelmed and hopeless" when a flier appeared in her mailbox announcing a sermon series at her church called "Death by Suburb." The congregation would spend five weeks talking about the suburban lifestyle -- the consumerism and the overcaffeinated schedules, and how it all can choke the life out of you if you're not careful.

Click here for the rest of the article.

Mr. I'll do anything for the company guy

Priceless

Context- This was created by one of my best friends (well, at least prior to this posting) whom I also work with to promote an annual company meeting within our firm.

Links, Federeral Vision, etc...

Couple of interesting links (well at least if you're a presby):

Covenant Radio-Covenant Radio is a joint venture of the Reformed Theology Resource Center and The Apologia Book Shoppe designed to address the issues of the covenant as it pertains to various topics in the life of our modern Church. These issues are related closely to our approach to baptism, communion, eschatology, and worship.

Reformed News- An independent news source covering the small (but growing), conservative world of Reformed Christianity.

Also, the PCA came out with its report on the Federal Vision a few weeks ago. It seems like the committee was pretty well stacked to come out against. I understand there was not a single FV friendly man on the committee. I can't really even articulate exactly what the FV is, but I know enough about Christian charity and basic right and wrong to know that these men should get a fair hearing. Also, the report was not completed in time to be distributed to the attendees of the PCA general assembly in advance. It all seems fishy.

I've found very little discussion about it online until this was offered by Jeff Meyers, a PCA pastor in St. Louis. As you can probably tell, I tend to be sympathetic to many of his assertions (not necessarily sympathetic to the FV, but to his reasons for not acting on this report right now) and am wary of a subset of men with very particular theological bias determining what is and is not acceptable, especially when many other courts in the denomination have investigated and found no wrong. I've experienced the some of the less admirable aspects of Southern Presbyterianism and it would be unfortunate if the PCA were to execute a theological cleansing that demanded that every man held to a precise SP theology.

Anyhow, please pray for the leaders of the PCA- that they would have charity, wisdom, mercy, fairness, gentleness and self-control as they consider and debate the merits of this report.

B