Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we thine unworthy servants do give thee most humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all men. We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we beseech thee, give us that due sense of all thy mercies, that our hearts may be unfaignedly thankful; and that we show forth thy praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to thy service, and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Spirit, be all honor and glory, world without end.

It’s quite early in Atlanta. The house I am staying in (we I should say – Joseph and I) is hushed. It sits in the woods on some beautiful land. We’ve seen deer and rabbits and other critters. It’s really pretty.
I copied the General Thanksgiving from Morning Prayer Rite I above as I just finished saying the Office, in addition to staying up (so far, so good) on the “Blended” Bible reading plan from You Version (mentioned in an earlier post on “Bible time”). I have been wondering often on this Sabbatical of offering Morning Prayer at St. Pats once or twice a week once I return. One thing God is speaking to me about during this time away is my “obsession” with numbers – I need to give that up. If one or two folks want to get together to say the Office, then let’s do that. Will discuss with parishioners and leaders when I return. Meanwhile I am enjoying renewing these habits.
Speaking of habits, yesterday was a BLAST! When my girls were young, Jennifer and I brought them to Six Flags yearly. We love the park, and it was always a vacation highlight. For Christmas my Middler year of seminary, my parents gave us a season pass to Six Flags Great America (north of Chicago – we lived in Evanston). That summer we went often, many times just Joseph and I (he was seven years old) would just drive up for the afternoon and ride what we could. I am a Coaster junkie. He was too short then to ride the biggest coasters, Raging Bull and Batman were the fastest and biggest at that park. Then in October of that year, for their “Fright Fest” events, we all went back to the park. Joseph, and this was all his idea, wore his “wheelies” (tennis shoes with roller blade wheels that pop out of the bottom). This gave him just the extra inch he needed to qualify to ride the biggest coasters, and so he did, loving it.
When some of our other summer plans did not quite work out like we had hoped, I decided to take a few days just with Joseph and to revisit Six Flags over Georgia. He had been once – when he was in his mother’s womb!
We really had a fantastic time. We splurged on the “Flash Pass”, which allows you to skip waiting in line for the rides. It’s a really cool system, you reserve your spot in the next ride you want and usually by the time you walk to it, your time to ride is ready and off you go. This allowed us to ride SO many more times. We rode every Coaster they have to offer, some which were quite intimidating I must say. The newest is Devil Dare Drop, which takes you STRAIGHT up (no angle), then drops you at more than vertical, the drop is actually inverted, then sends you through a series of twists and loops. It was good, but not the best. We rode Goliath FIVE times – it’s a huge roller coaster, goes up 20 stories, has almost a mile of track, and reaches over 70 mph! All in all, between the two of us we rode 32 coaster rides, and 12 others (mostly Thunder River which is a raft / rapids / get soaked ride). We rode Superman 3 times – you actually strap in, then you are laid down flat to give the semblance of flying like the Man of Steel. It was GREAT!
Oddly enough we were at the park from opening to closing, and about an hour before closing, as we were about to board Goliath once more, we heard our names being called by riders already on board – it was four of our EYC members! I knew they were going to be in Atlanta this week but had no idea they were doing Six Flags on that day. It’s so strange this was the only time we saw any of them, but it sure was good to see their happy faces! Hey Ginny M, Jonah, Meghan, and Beatrice!
This short trip of special time with my son has been really wonderful, so glad we were able to do it. Today we drive home, then tomorrow I am off again for 3 weeks of writing and study time, followed by a week at a monastery for a silent retreat. The sabbatical is winding down and this phase will be much “quieter” than the first part. I am definitely looking forward to it.

I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July holiday! We spent it with my in-laws in Perdido. Chelsea and her boyfriend were with us a few days as was Joseph and his girlfriend. Mackenzie and boyfriend made it for Sunday. We had a nice, relaxing time.

I have really upped the ante on my bike riding and I am really enjoying it. I am riding about 14 to 15 miles a day, in an hour or so. The new bike is great (recumbent) and this is fast becoming a great new habit. Jennifer has been able to ride hers a couple of times and the knees are doing ok for now. YAY!

Tomorrow (Saturday) I am leaving with Joseph on a quick Father – Son trip, something I am really grateful for as part of this sabbatical time. Then Jen and I will head to south Florida where I will engage in intentional time of writing and studying for 3 weeks. I am unsure how fruitful this time will be but I am looking forward to it. In addition to writing about Katrina and about Racial Reconciliation, I am planning to develop some Bible study materials to use at St Pats this fall. The time will be very structured, with exercise, reading, writing, studying, etc. all mapped out each day. I am each day reminded what a blessing this sabbatical has been and continues to be for me. I pray for St Pats daily and for the people there all the time, and I hope they are all making plans to attend the workshop with our wonderful friends, the Reverends Bill and Diane Livingston. It’s coming up next weekend and should be a real treat for all.

Meanwhile I am enjoying the freedom of much Bible reading and study! Peace Y’all!

One of the blessings of this sabbatical time is having time for more Bible reading and study. The weekly rhythm of Parish work rarely leaves time for what was always a favorite pastime of mine. I know, hard to believe that an ordained person spends LESS time reading the Bible than I did when I wasn’t, and maybe that’s not quite accurate, but this time away has helped me see how I have neglected spending time in the Word like I used to, need to, and love to. Of course I study the Bible each week, but the vast majority of that time is spent in the Lectionary readings for Sunday (and Wednesday) plus any Bible study prep I need to do. This is not the same as devotional reading or detailed study of say an Epistle or minor prophet. So during this Sabbatical time I am committed to reigniting that passion and dedicating time to it.
Our very busy travel schedule of the first part of the Sabbatical prevented me from doing this too much, although I did begin some study and of course am doing a good bit of devotional reading in the Scriptures – some daily office lectionary based, some otherwise. I can say reading the Bible as part of daily devotions, as part of some detailed study (more on that at a later time), and as part of a daily plan of reading, has all been wonderful.
So how am I doing this? Well, as much as I love a good floppy Bible with concordance and highlighters, I have found a software tool that is amazing. You Version is a Bible app developed by the people at life church.tv, a megachurch in Oklahoma. It’s really well done software, and includes over 120 Bible translations in over 40 languages. You can pick so many different versions to read a passage in. You can make notes as you go, bookmark passages, etc. I love the notes, as I read if something is meaningful to me, or may be great for a sermon down the road or a Bible study aid, I can bookmark it and write a note about it that I can reference later. You tag the notes with categories also.
You Version runs on Windows or Mac and there are really good Android, iphone, and ipad versions. They all work together, sharing notes, etc. Another nice feature is the Bible reading plans, they have dozens that guide you through daily readings of the Scripture, some are designed to read the whole Bible in a certain time frame, others have themes they follow. Included is a “BCP” plan that follows the daily lectionary so can be used for your own daily office reading if you desire. I highly recommend this product, and it’s free! Go to youversion.com, or download the app in the Apple app store or the Android Market. Let me know what daily plan you decide to follow!

If you are the praying type, I have some requests….

Day two home from England. Poor Jen had to go to Hattiesburg Monday early as her mom was having surgery that day. She is staying overnight with her for a few nights. Pray for Jacque (her mom), she is doing well so far. Pray for Jennifer too, as her knees and lower legs are swollen as bad as they were in Israel. We can’t seem to figure out a solution.

Received the dreadful news that another dear friend of ours has died. Ann Jensen of Jackson, long time member of our home parish of St. Peter’s by the Lake, was killed in a motorcycle/car wreck on Spillway Road. Her husband, Jim, was driving the motorcycle and was injured. An SUV pulled out in front of them. Ann was one of the nicest people you would ever meet, had her own Real Estate company (even sold our house when we left for seminary in 99) and will be very much missed by many. Pray for Jim and their three daughters and all their family and friends.

While Jennifer is having to do the nurse thing overnight, which makes recovery from jet lag much harder, I am getting there. Waking up real early but that should self-adjust soon. Plan this week was to take a short trip with Joseph, but his plans have changed and we will do some things around here instead. Headed to a family gathering this weekend for the 4th, then on to my location for writing time. Will take my new bike and hope to drop the 5 pounds I’ve gained since all this began.

Thanks for everyone’s prayers, and your birthday wishes. Jen tells me I had over a 100 “Happy Birthdays” on Facebook, so if you did that and are reading this – THANKS! It was a weird birthday in England, not hearing from folks, but we had a great dinner with old seminary friends, Keith and Ruth Magee. Keith was an exchange student from Westcott House for one semester at Seabury and it was great to catch up.

Off to ride the bike in the heat. …..

Once again WordPress failed me and all the text I typed for our day at Wimbledon was erased when I published the blog. Here’s a summary:
We decided when we arrived in London to pick the best weather day for a trip to Wimbledon, which started on Monday. It has been a dream of both Jen and I to attend Wimbledon, totally on our bucket lists, so part of the planning for the Europe trip was to make sure we were in London when the tournament started.
Wimbledon tickets are sold mostly to corporate types, just like big events in the States. Some tix are available by public raffle months before the tourney. Other than that a few travel groups have tickets, they run $700 or so a day.
In addition Wimbledon allots some tickets each day to the public. There are about 1500 for the “show courts” (Center Court, Court 1, Court 2) and about 8000 general grounds courts that allow you on the grounds and to line up for seats at the outer courts (3 thru 19). To get those you enter this giant queue. So that’s what we did.
Our plan was to be on the tube by 6:30 am, we made it a little later than that. However, our tube line had a malfunction which put us at Wimbledon about 7:45. We walked about a mile to the entrance to the queueing area. As we passed through the gate I heard the best words we could hope for – “straight ahead to the queue, you WILL get in today”! So exciting!
We arrive at a huge grass field where several lines hundreds deep were already in place. We were herded to our line by the Stewards, and once in line they passed out the most important item – our queue cards. They are stamped with the date and a number, we were 6732 and 6733. The numbers are checked several times to insure no one jumps ahead in the queue. So now we wait. We lay or sit on the grass with several new friends, all drinking Pimm’s or eating stuff they brought. There are concession stands near by and restrooms, it’s all very well organized. We talk some to the folks around us, some of whom even share Pimm’s with us, as we had no idea what that was. After an hour or so, our line was moved across the field to another queue area, all in order and very nicely handled.
Near our lines are the tent queues, where people have camped out over night. We see them move and many of them move their tents, still set up. We learned later that those who did not get in the first 1500 (for show court tix) just stay another night in a tent, now closer to the front, hoping for show tix the next day. The rest of us begin moving now towards the gates for general grounds tickets. A steward tells me that 8000 will get in today and we should be inside by 1:00. After 8000 those remaining in the queue may enter as other folks leave – one on one. The line moves slowly but steadily, the walk is about a mile from there to the gate, all done quite orderly and everyone is in a great mood. It’s a beautiful day and we cannot believe we are so close!
About noon we make it to the gate and we are in! WIMBLEDON! We had scoped out the matches and decided to head for court 18, which had some good singles matches and is right beside Hinman Hill, where the giant TV screen is. Jen got in line to be seated at the court (it was full but as people leave they let others in on change overs). I went after refreshments and made it back just before our turn to be seated, and man we were so lucky. We got two seats on the 3rd row of the baseline bleachers, right in the center. We could almost touch the players! It was amazing! The courts are so much smaller than they look on tv.
The first match was between Britain’s best female player and the 29th seed from Japan. The crowd was very energetic for the Brit, but she lost in a very close 3rd set. We had such good seats we dared not leave. The next match featured the number 8 seed (Kvitnova) and the 20th (from Italy, I forget her name). The level of tennis was MUCH higher, Kvitnova is a giant and she waxed the other girl with no problem. This girl can play! We stayed for the first set of a men’s match, featuring Thomas Berdych who can serve SO hard (he’s real tall). He was stomping an American I never heard of. What great tennis! By then we needed to get up and walk around, so we did.
We got some lunch and walked a bit, did some shopping, then camped out on Hinman Hill / Mount Murray. It is way smaller than it looks on TV, but was crammed with people. We watched Nadal on the big screen then it started raining. We waited out the rain for an hour when they said they probably wouldn’t play any more. It was close to 7. Of course center court roof was closed and we watched the end of ladies’ match, then decided to head home, along with several thousand of our newest friends.
It really was a fantastic day and a highlight of our trip. So glad we got to do this and so thrilled we actually were at Wimbledon for a day. What a blast!
Tomorrow is my birthday! We are going to the Wax Museum, which is walking distance from our hotel, and then dinner with friends from Seminary! Sunday we go home!