Odds and Ends

I am really missing the Olympics.  When else can one turn on the TV and find inspiring quality programming?  I miss the stories, the beautiful scenery, the tense races, the ice skating, Bob Costas' commentary and the vision of America's athletes striving to do their best.

It is finally getting warm here, although I have been told by the natives not to get my hopes up.

Some of us at Otter are being saturated with Luke these days.  We hear him from the pulpit in outstanding sermons, in class on Sunday mornings after we have done our own digging through the week, and in a Wed. afternoon class as we look at the ideas of the Sunday sermon. I must say he is sticking with me.

American Idol, what can I say?  The judges chose the contestants, yet they constantly upbraid them and say they are not living up to their potential???? I am getting a little tired of Randy's sighs and Simon's caustic forecasts of doom.  I really don't believe the girls chosen are as good as former years' selections.  It is fun to watch, however.

Another show I am liking this year is The Good Wife with Julianne Margulis.  After growing weary of Law and Order, this is a pleasant change with a woman lawyer as the main character--the story is as they say
"stripped from the headlines" as she struggles with going back to work after her husband is jailed for wrongdoing in the district attorney's office (and shown to be playing around with various prostitutes).  Does sound all too familiar, doesn't it?  There seems to be more of that lately.

After hearing that Rick Perry will be on the ballot for Texas governor again, I just had to sit and think that we need to be training noble and intelligent public servants in our colleges and high schools.  Randy Lowry said recently in a meeting at Lipscomb that the president of a very prestigious Ivy League university told him that his  Ivy League university was  doing well at training students academically, but the thing lacking in their curriculum was character.  Character--what an old fashioned term!

Then to see the Christian Chronicle report that for the first time, our Christian universities now have more  students who do not attend the Church of Christ than those who do, hummm.  Conjecture is that the Church of Christ base is dwindling because some of our churches are dwindling or dying and because parents do not see the need for Christian education.  I am pleased that those outside our fellowship are finding the universities challenging and ready for today's world.  However, we can't forget the importance of character and moral living.

Next year I will celebrate my 50th year graduation anniversary from Abilene Christian University.  Attending that school has been a total blessing in my life,and I believe in the life of my son.  More about this later.