It's a different world today...

Often, when we go on vacation, we visit old cemeteries. They offer a real glimpse into a past most of us today find hard to understand; a glimpse into the way our concept of death has changed in the age of scientific health care and antibiotics.

These pictures are from a old graveyard in Cade's Cove, in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Many old graveyards are full of the kind of thing you see here- childrens' gravestones a year or two old a year or two apart. When you think about it, it's heartbreaking.

We know of one place in central Georgia- a succession of small headstones, in a long row in a family plot, a year or two apart- nine in all.

We really live in a different day than our grandparents and great-grandparents. Infant death is so foreign to us as to be almost unheard of- and thank God for that. Among so many other things- thank God for that.

Off again...

In a couple days I will be leaving for Anderson, South Carolina for another session of Tony Morgan's Coaching Network. I really look forward to these gatherings, because I get to exchange ideas with some of the brightest and most dedicated people I have ever had the privilege to meet.

But the Anderson gathering is only the start of a longer adventure. I will leave Anderson on Friday afternoon and make the run to the Atlanta airport and pick up Betty, then continue on to her sister Connie's home in Franklin, NC. She has a ton of time to take off this year or lose it, so we are taking our first mid-summer vacation ever.

As much as there is to do in the office, and as much as I enjoy my job, the days away come at a good time. Maybe I will even find some time to think and blog... or not. We'll see.

Behind a mask...

Was reading an interesting blog today- "I am what I tweet?" Basically, the blogger is talking about how people project an image of themselves through their Twitter postings, and how we form opinions of them based on their postings.

Duh! The technology is evolving, and our ability to reach across the globe as easily as we reach across the room is growing, but there is nothing new here. People have always formed their opinions about us based on how we present ourselves, in public and in private. If I am a grouch it will come across whether I tweet or talk. If I am upbeat and inspiring, I will be that way pretty much across the board, on Blogspot or the sidewalk.

God, please give me the grace to be a refection of You in my life. My life without You is pretty sorry (Jeremiah 17:9). Please let people see through me to Jesus.

Writer's Block...

Before I started blogging, I had a million things to say. But, since I started, the flood of thoughts and ideas has turned into a trickle.

It gives me new respect for guys who make a living writing- how difficult it must be to wake up each day and face that blank page, knowing it isn't going to fill itself up.

I actually beleive that I respond better than initiate. I have commented on several other blogs since I wrote on mine. I guess that points toward my problem being a lack of good ideas of my own. What an awful thought!