As you can see from the picture, we have had some omens of doom haunting us recently. We are housesitting for some wonderful friends who are gone this summer. They live at the reservoir, and for a couple of days we have been greeted by three buzzards (actually I think they are American Black Vultures see here). We drove up the other day as they were just sitting on the deck. They watched us a while, were not at all spooked by our dog, then flew into a tree nearby. The next day they were there again, perched on the deck. I’ve never seen them actually eating anything, and I haven’t smelled any dead creatures around. Made me wonder if they had advanced warning about something? I threw a stick at them and they flew off, two of them, leaving a 3rd still in the same tree. He / She eventually flew off as well. I haven’t seen them for a few days. If Jennifer hadn’t taken the picture, I might think this was a vision – although I am unsure what has “died” or is near death that would attract them. Insert church comments here….
Most of you (I act as if there is a legion of people reading this!) know of my leg issues. I ruptured my right achilles in Feb of 2009 and the left one in October of 2010. The 2nd one became infected post op, requiring another surgery and 6 weeks of IV antibiotics. Thank God I am married to a nurse! So over about a 2 year period I was on crutches for about 5 months total. UGH. The average recovery time for a top athlete (that’s NOT me, by the way) from such an injury is 12 months. While rehabbing the 2nd leg after the 3rd operation, I tore a tendon in my ankle. We chose not to operate on that.
Alas, the heel and ankle continue to give me fits. It’s difficult to do any exercise and, unfortunately, “church” shoes really bother it. I went back to my ortho last week and he referred me to their new foot/ankle guy. He examined my MRI and me and recommended we just continue to try and live with it. But if that doesn’t work out, he thinks I have a “lot” (that’s a technical medical term, evidently) of diseased tendon that should be cut out, which requires detaching and then re-attaching the tendon (oh, in case you didn’t know, this is the largest and strongest tendon in the human body and it does not detach in a good mood) to the heel.
He did prescribe this weird lotion that has all kinds of numbing stuff and anti-swelling stuff in it, with some pain killer. It is working pretty good so far. And ……
Those of you who have kept up know I bought a recumbent bike to help with the rehab. I’ve been unable to ride it since March, due to both pain and the move to Jackson. So the other day I went for a nice 7.5 mile ride on bike paths (BIKE PATHS! – Take THAT Gulf Coast!) at the reservoir, with minimal pain. YEA and WOOT.
So, that leaves Bibles in my alliteration. I was reflecting the other day how much I appreciate how St. James really emphasizes Bible study and reflection. We have FOUR weekly Bible studies plus some pretty good Bible preaching by your faithful clergy. I do love it and hope our folks do also.
For those interested in some tools, here are a couple. YouVersion.org is a wonderful Bible study resource. Developed by the folks with Lifechurch.tv, you can access this through your web browser. There are also apps for iPad, IPhone, and Android devices and they are excellent. With YouVersion you get many translations of the Bible and also a plethora (I’ve been wanting to use that word) of reading plans. They are year long and shorter, theme based, lectionary based (you can follow the Episcopal lectionary if you desire). A plan for just about anyone and it’s all FREE!
The Bible Challenge is awesome as well. You can access it HERE. The Center for Biblical Studies was established by St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church in Whitemarsh, PA and their Rector, the Reverend Marek Zabriskie. St. James’ is listed as one of the partner churches. I encourage you to check out the vast resources on the Bible challenge website. Bishop Gray’s reading of the Gospels throughout Lent was a program of the Center for Biblical Studies.
Meanwhile, come to one of our Bible studies. Talk to your clergy about ways for you to engage the Scriptures. Consider joining one of our several EFM groups.
The buzzards and I will see you along the way – sometimes even on a bike path!

David+