a night in the airport

With the 4th of July, I was able to enjoy a brief visit to Buckery Rd. It was eventful and relaxing and sooooo great to be with Keri and the kids. Because of the brevity of the stay, we kept hush about it.

I was supposed to land in beloved Allentown late Thursday night. The plan was to have Keri pick me up and we'd spend the night in a hotel and do breakfast in the morning. Sounds great, right? Well the flight from SC to Washington DC was delayed, causing me to miss my flight to Allentown, causing me to end up spending the night in the Washington/Dulles Airport. In the midst of great disappointment, I realized that spending the night in an airport is an experience everyone should endure, so I dealt with it. I looked for a place that would have a lot of traffic (for safety reasons) and lots of chairs (for space reasons). I settled in the international flights baggage area. I was in and out of sleep all night and dreamed that one of the Chaplain instructors asked the class to name the greatest Negro leaguers from every position, a task I handled with ease. At 5AM, I decided to give up on sleeping and bought a cup of coffee.

Coming home was great and weird. Seeing my family made me so happy. Derrick said it best as we were on the couch talking. "It's like you never left dad". I made an effort to talk to everyone of them and give them their fathers blessing. Me Derrick and Emily had a great soccer game and I also got to run with Keri on Saturday morning!

I also got to spend time working on the lawn mower, which is broke. Joel came over Saturday and HOPEFULLY will get the thing working soon. It was good to see him.

Leaving was painful. We made it very quick, another minute and we'd of all been bawling.

So I've got just under 2 more months of training and then it is off to Fort Hood. I think I will enjoy the challenges of being a chaplain. As I grow more accustomed to Army etiquette, I will also enjoy the army life as well.

God is faithful. I've been reading through the gospel of Mark (a little at a time) this past month and I'm struck by the heart Jesus had for the hard-luck, outcast, low-man-on-the-totem-pole. Means that there is always hope for me.

Well, it's 9PM--gotta hit the sack...............



Here are my negro league all stars, with pride:
C=Josh Gibson
1b=Buck Leonard
2b=Bingo DeMoss (the hardest choice)
3b=Ray Dandridge
SS=Pop Lloyd
LF=Cool Papa Bell
CF=Oscar Charleston
RF=Christian Torriente
P=Bill Foster, Bullet Joe Rogan
(I selected only players who did not play in the majors, hence no Jackie Robinson)