Yesterday I did what I routinely do as a pastor. I made visits to church members. A while back one of our men had a serious stroke. His wife is frail. She simply cannot provide the level of care he needs. He now resides at the Ga. War Veterans Home. Yesterday I drove up there to see him. It was a five hour round trip. There I visited with him. He is severely limited by the stroke. I spent a little over 30 minutes with him. I then spent the next hour sitting and visiting with 5 other men I found sitting in wheelchairs, etc. outside in an open area. It has been my experience that many of the residents receive infrequent visits. Some never see another person except fellow residents and staff. All of these men showed surprise when I spoke to them. It appears that they are used to being ignored.

Tomorrow is 9-11. At the observance in NYC few if any first responders will be noted and there will be permitted no religious expression at all. Most strangely, the perpetrators of that attack will not be identified except as terrorists. To say the least, the observance planned tomorrow in NYC leaves a lot to be desired. Hopefully other observances will not so ignore the truth of what happened and those who were so much a part of the subsequent rescue efforts.

Tomorrow I will lead two morning worship services. The theme will be, "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" In light of 9-11 and the subsequent shocks to our nation, i.e., economy, war, financial, etc., this is I think a timely concern. As a church we are going to focus on starting where we are, taking what we have and doing what we can. Tomorrow afternoon that will for me consist of visiting shut-in members of the church, many of who are veterans of the armed services. Many of them came of age during and served in periods of extreme national risk. Some of them knew profound suffering and loss. I want them to know they are not ignored. I want to listen to them. I want them to know they are appreciated. In your community it is likely there are similar men and women to be found. Why not take the opportunity to phone one or two of them and speak with them, or maybe get in the car and go visit them. Sincerely. brucev.

__________________
<><

Thank you brucev for your service to the Lord and visiting the veterans home. My wife works at a retirement community and whenever I go there for a visit I find it very rewarding to speak with the residents.

__________________
"Life is short, hunt hard"

Thank you for your statement i found it very uplifting and moving.

Thank you sir.

Things didn't work out for me to make visits today. Last night about 8 p.m. I took the dog and went jogging. Unfortunately after about three or four steps, I was running. That was good. My dog and I were flying down a blacktop road and got out to the main highway. I punched it up to the top of the small hill and we then turned right and headed for the house. We were flying... big huge stride. The bottom of my running shoe had come off at the front but everything was fine... until we had to get up on the sidewalk. Unfortunately the side walk is uneven due to tree roots, etc. The front part of the sole of my right foot hung up on a bit of concrete and I did a belly flop. Hit so hard my pedometer came off and landed in an adjacent yard. I was running with hand weights. They of course went flying. Tried to keep my face up and almost succeeded. My wife is a very competent nurse, so she was able to steri-strip my chin back together. This afternoon it looks... O.K. This morning for church I got some interesting looks from folks. This afternoon my resident medical expert... i.e., my wife, has told me no running, no jogging, no nothing. She's got me on pain medication and says that being quiet will allow time the swelling in my knees and shoulder to go down. Thankfully my left hand is not broken or even sprained. But I went down on my hands and was trying hard to keep my face of the sidewalk. Oh well, you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men? Tomorrow is my normal off day so I'll take it easy this afternoon and tomorrow... get back to normal schedule on Tuesday!

__________________
<><