Thinking Out Loud

(Very) Broad Perspective on New Year

Planning to re-commence some Highstreetbeat blogging in 2014. These photos from our spacecraft Cassini during its visit to Saturn and the neighborhood provide some balance in our lives that are often tightly focused and self-centered. There's a big world out there, and we are blessed to be a litte part of it. Happy new year!

 

 

Renaissance Alive and Well in the Midwest

Feeling like a Renaissance guy tonight.

Attending a "twofer" wedding in STL tomorrow. Hindu ceremony at 9 am (suit with colorful sport shirt) with an Eastern Orthodox version (same suit with tie) in the evening. Different perspectives. One God. Many houses. All good. Food and beverages intermixed.

Watching the Cards tonight thump Atlanta. This afternoon arranged the next set of needlepoint with 98 year old mom who's starting PT in her home Monday. Initial evaluation: "He liked the way I did the steps." Thank you Don Miller and Annie Mulholland.  Dropped Colby (four legged granddaughter) off to Second Half of Life mentors Tom and Mary Jo. 

Tomorrow on the way to STL early it will be the Almon Brothers until I get to Kingdom City. "One Way Out" will get me to Callaway County. Take pee (at an appropriate location), get on I-70 and listen to Richard Rohr talk about how the Odyssey is an early offering of the Second Half.

Return Monday to the practice of law. Mostly First Half stuff. Always looking for Second Half opportunities.

 

Make a positive out of a negative.

Last night some sorry souls toppled the statue of the Blessed Virgin at Helias, a gift from the Vanderfeltz Family, Leon and Rita Mae in particular.

Let's focus on foregiveness and repair. Send a small donation to Helias High School  % the Statue Repair Fund.

Spend a moment thinking about foregiveness. It will help you deal with this event, and others like it. 

Carrier pigeons are not the only birds with a message.

Sorry to get etherial for a moment, but this little video of a murmuration  makes you wonder how anyone can think that humans are the only things that count, or that there is not something really big and wonderful going on around us.

It's just one of a thousand indications of a plan. Our challenge is to plug into it. Sit back and enjoy.

 

Blessed Are The Peacemakers

This just seemed odd.

Still trying to fit the foreground with the background.

 

We Might Hear Echoes of the Past @ the New Ecco

Last night at the Old Munichberg Association meeting new owner Don Powell announced plans for the historic renovation and re-opening of Ecco Lounge, a Southside tradition going back to 1945. Part of the credit goes to Larry Kolb and Steve Rollins for getting the ball rolling in this important block on Dunklin Street. 

Prayer Force One Will Land at Capitol Saturday

Ed Moore served as an Oklahoma Sate Senator. Ed and his wife Sandy decided to take a pretty interesting road trip in 2006. They converted a very large bus to a traveling inspirational experience, "Prayer Force One." It's painted to resemble the airplane. They have visited 26 states and 17 capital cities. Sandy says Missouri's Capitol is the best she's seen so far. She's right.

I bumped into them while taping a segment on KNLJ TV  on West Dunklin. They (and the bus) will be at the South Circle of the Capitol all day Saturday. The bus has a virtual tour of the White House and allows visitors to pray all the way. They're really nice folks. No hard sell. Just a "back to basics" approach to a complicated world. Grab some some coffee downtown and walk over to check this out.

This TV station is a great new community resource. Phenomenal tech investment. More to come on that. 

The Modern Version of Life After Death: Three News Cycles

At about the same time our ancestors discovered fire, they started to think about whether there is any individual identity after being eaten by a saber tooth tiger. Some modern cultures have rejected traditional Judeo Christian conepts of life after death. Humanists in Sweden recently paid for billboards questioning whether God exists.

Translation:  "God Probably Does Not Exist."

 (Note that they're hedging their bets a little!) 

Reminds me of an old joke in college that appeared as four lines on the blackboard:

"God is Dead." 

  Nietzsche

"Nietzsche is Dead." 

God

Putting aside Sweden and Nietzsche for the moment, there does seem to be a basic human need to look beyond the cadaver. This week the national media attemtped in its goofy, breathless way to have Michael Jackson live past his autopsy. Rest assured that Michael will be celebrated, castigated and litigated for a long time. He was a talented, complex and tragic guy whose heart stopped beating, prematurely perhaps, but as all our hearts will some day.

It's interesting that modern culture still looks for immortality, albeit immortality of its own making. 

A REALLY Holy Week for Some Helias Students

Christians enjoy a rich heritage of the liturgy and reassessment during the week before Easter. We call it Holy Week. Didier ("D") Aur, President of Helias High School will make the week holy in an unforgettable way for ten students and one alum. They will team up with students Hermasillo, Mexico on an evangelical mission to sixteen small villages in the Sonoran Desert. I caught Mr. Aur on his way out of town and had him tell me about the trip. Any time you can get people to look outside their bubble it's a good thing.

Huckabee to Speak at Vitae Foundation Event March 23

Mike Huckabee is no stranger to the Heartland. He was Governor of Arkansas for twelve years and ran for President in 2008. He now has a show on Fox. Mike Roberts and Warren Krech will introduce Huckabee at this year's Vitae Caring Foundation Pro-Life Benefit Dinner at the Capital Plaza.  For tickets call (573) 634-4316 or visit the Vitae website.

Huckabee visited Jefferson City during the presidential campaign. Here's a clip, courtesy Jason Rosenbaum's Blog and the Columbia Daily News.