A timeline

July 3, 1863 -- Following Pickett's Charge, William Mitchell lay injured on the bloody, dark battlefield at Gettysburg. The 35-year-old knew he must get up and get away before daybreak. Eventually, he returned home where his family had sometimes hidden in the cellar as the Northern Army passed nearby. Sometime later, he moved his family west to Richmond, Indiana, where he worked at a wire factory.

Even in advanced years, the 5'10" "self-sufficient" strong man could out-armwrestle the neighborhood teens who came around to challenge him. Seven-year-old great grandson Robert watched and remembered well. One day, when his checkers opponent had finished waiting on a customer and returned to their game, he found William Mitchell passed away -- at age 94.

How curious! The great grandson grew to manhood, gained fame as an athlete, was awarded a Purple Heart in WW II, moved his family west, became well-known as Bob Lemen the oldest working Marriott employee, and passed from among us only days ago -- having armwrestled one last time -- at age 94.

Robert is the son of Alma Thompson Lemen. Alma is the daughter of Mary Ann Mitchell Thompson. Mary Ann is the daughter of William Mitchell. Some of us reading this are Robert Lemen's children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren -- seven generations in the great flow of humanity.

(Lest the reader think otherwise, this is not meant to be an obituary. Elsie)

Funny things happen...

...on the way to blogging...things like rooms full of people and the ease of Facebook communications :-)

Driving all day on 9/11...remembering, thinking

If these jottings seem disconnected, the time frame is many hours over hundreds of miles.

I drove home following celebrations and reunions over a special long weekend. Another day, I may write the many joys and blessings of those recent busy days, but today is 9/11.

• A day to remember, to reflect, to pray
• A day to appreciate the extreme heroism, courage, and self-sacrifice of so many for the possibility of saving another's life
• A day to admire my son and his wife for immediately volunteering to give their blood
• A day to be proud of my teenage grandson who trains and serves with the volunteer firefighters of his community very near the field in Pennsylvania where United Flight 96 went down
• A day to thank God that crash missed his family's home
• A day to thank God my sister and her husband had declined an invitation to the Pentagon
  
• A day to mourn with survivors and with our Nation
• A day to remember where I was, what I was doing, and see some fruit of that work
  
• A day to turn away from selfishness and seek God's wisdom
• A solemn day...a Patriot Day
  

Religion and politics...

Growing up, we were cautioned about discussing religion or politics with our guests as being impolite. I realize these are most frequent topics on this blog, and today there is one of each.

First, the political -- Upon hearing the President's invitation to email "fishy" sounding claims regarding health care reform to "flag" at the White House, my first reaction was, "Wouldn't Tricky Dick have loved this technology?!" If you don't recognize Tricky Dick, you are younger than I am or unaware of historical power grabs. How about LBJ? Don't think he did not keep account of fishy-sounding opponents in his day. Compiling those emails is illegal, and deleting them is against federal law.
I suspect, if my remarks had been submitted, I would get the same page of talking points back from the White House that I get from the media, AARP, and my Congressman.


Now, my response from this morning Bible reading, Acts 2:37-47 -- What is essential?
My repentance at the preaching of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of my sins
My belief and identification with His Name (especially by believer's baptism)

The early church grew by devotion to
the apostles' teaching,
fellowship,
the breaking of bread,
prayer.

Believers felt a sense of awe in
their experiences,
togetherness,
their voluntary sharing of possessions.

They were day-by-day
like-minded in the temple,
sharing meals in their homes,
with gladness,
sincere in heart,
praising God.

Lord Jesus, I share their faith, and I would be more like them in day-by-day living.

Congratulations are in order!

Congratulations, Former President Clinton, for bringing out of North Korea the two imprisoned reporters! I hope to learn a lot more of the story.

Congratulations, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, on your confirmation to the Supreme Court! Yours is an inspiring American success story. I wish you health, long life and tenure, and much wisdom. I'll be praying for you as well as all the Court.

Twitter tweet...

If only I had twitter...or should I say if I had twitter only...how out of touch we would have felt for those hours today. The old admonition came to mind, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." I feel that caution against single-payer health care.

I'm blaming this post on the NG Mag...

The cover feature of the current National Geographic magazine prompts me to revisit a question I have had for decades. "Yellowstone SUPERVOLCANO what lies beneath the park" Is it just when we feel fairly secure that we like to scare ourselves?

"When Yellowstone Explodes...The future is anybody's guess." Some kind of eruption, a cataclysm plunging Earth into a volcanic winter, in our lifetimes, or 100,000 years from now, or perhaps never -- speculations taken from the article by Joel Achenbach.

It may seem disconnected, but here is my question: Where is the United States in prophesies of the Bible which have "all the kings of the earth" opposing Jerusalem? Is the U.S. to be aligned with all the nations or is it perhaps to become of no significance? What could cause such circumstances?
A) a cataclysmic natural disaster
B) an economic implosion
C) a surrender of national sovereignty
D) a man-made disaster
E) all of the above
F) none of the above

Just wondering...