O Tannenbaum

O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
wie treu sind deine Blätter!
Du grünst nicht nur
zur Sommerzeit,
Nein auch im Winter, wenn es schneit.
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
wie treu sind deine Blätter!

O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum!
Du kannst mir sehr gefallen!
Wie oft hat nicht zur Weihnachtszeit
Ein Baum von dir mich hoch erfreut!
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum!
Du kannst mir sehr gefallen!

O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum!
Dein Kleid will mich
was lehren:
Die Hoffnung und Beständigkeit
Gibt Trost und Kraft
zu jeder Zeit.
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum!
Das soll dein Kleid
mich lehren.

Would you believe that there is a Christmas tree at the Brooks house. It's not that we have anything against Christmas trees, but it is just not something that we do on a regular basis during the Christmas season. This year Caleb told us that he wanted us to have a Christmas tree. Not a fake 3 foot tall one, but a live tree. So, Nancy found one on sale!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

This weekend Nancy and I are riding in a bike ride in Orange Beach, AL. The ride is a fund raiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. For many years I have watched and read how the Make-A-Wish Foundation has put smiles on the faces of hundreds of thousands of people. To have this opportunity to be part of that is really something special. In preparation for this ride I went to their website - http://www.wish.org/ - because I wanted to see what some of the wishes were that we were going to make happen. The wishes that I saw were to ride on a train, a night at the zoo, a trip to the Grammies, a pink playhouse, meeting Michael Jordan and princess bedroom. All of these wishes came from children with life-threatening illnesses. Wow!
According to the organizers of the Ride For Wishes the average cost of granting wish is $500. I don't have $500, and there is a good chance that you don't have it either. At least not to the point that you could just pop it out and say, "Here, go make a wish come true." That is why Nancy and I are asking our friends to make a donation towards our goal of 2 wishes ($1000). Every little $10, $25, $100 will get us one step closer to granting those wishes.

To make your donation please use this link -- http://bit.ly/oy8JBB

Although Nancy and I ride regularly, we do not normally ride 50 miles a day, especially not 2 days in a row. Please pray for us as we ride on Saturday and Sunday as well as our travels to and from Orange Beach. Also, there is a group of riders that are cycling from Birmingham to participate in the Ride For Wishes.

A Reminder

Running the risk of loosing "guy" points, I must admit that I am not a big ESPN watcher. I know for some it is the only channel that the satellite receives. My oldest son is one of those people. A couple of night ago I came in and he, of course, had it on ESPN and was watching The Espys. This is an awards show where ESPN recognizes the folks that help make their network worthwhile. I came in about the time they were announcing the Jimmy V. Award. This is given to an athlete that overcomes adversity. This years winner is Anthony Robles, who won the NCAA wrestling title this year in his weight class. To me what sets Anthony apart is not that he is a National Champion wrestler, but that he did it with a no-matter-what attitude. He was born with only one leg. And to hear part of his story, that was just one of the many obstacles that he overcame or over looked.
Just this brief exposure to this young man and only hearing a condensed version of his story has caused me to think about a few things. The main thing is how often I seem to use the phrase "I can't". Not saying it out loud, but to myself. Convincing myself that something is impossible or that I am not able to accomplish the task. It is not a loud booming "I can't"; most of the time it is just a soft whisper. Those are debilitating words and can cause me to give up or stop short. However, when I have a reminder like the one from Anthony Robles, I think about what I heard many hears ago from a radio preacher. Some of the best words that God like to hear is when we say "I can't", because He can. I throw so many excuse up from being too fat, not getting enough rest, bad knees, bad shoulder, my ancestors acting up and garments on my back. And that is just for the physical challenges. The mental/spiritual challenges are a whole other story. A whole other story with the same moral: Obstacles are just that obstacles. Even in golf you get to move your ball when the hazard is bad enough.
Here is this young man's acceptance speech. As you watch it and hear a little bit about his story and how he accomplished what most would say is impossible; let it be a reminder that obstacles should only be a hindrance. Even with imperfections, such as missing body parts our goals and dreams can be reached and realized.

Robles Acceptance Speech at ESPY Awards (Jimmy V Award) from Keith Jennings on Vimeo.

You Just Never Know

For me Saturdays have a certain flow, or a least work better when there is a certain flow. Wake up a a decent hour. Eat delicious pancakes which are wonderfully prepared by my charming and useful wife. Watch The Soup and Flip This House. Although, I think they did do freshen up the Flip episodes because repeats have become the rule and not the exception. Then on to the tasks at hand. But if there was a day for procrastination, Saturday would be its name. Take this past Saturday for instance. I really needed to get going because I had to work on my lines for the up coming play (Sleuth, July 21-23 and 28-30 at the Cultural Arts Center, Dothan). I needed to work on my lines, but I kept finding other "things" to do. Finally I cam to my senses and left the house. My first stop was the store. You can't run lines without Diet Dr. Pepper! Especially when they are 2 for $2.22. I pulled in to the front of the store. I opened the door and began to exit the truck when I was stop by a young man wearing a white University of Auburn cap, backwards. He asked if I could help him out. He was pulling in towards the gas pumps when his truck quit and would not restart. I agreed to pull him to the pumps. The young man was very appreciative. I don't know if you have ever been stranded like that, but it is quite a helpless feeling. It was somewhat amazing that I pulled up at the exact time he was walking out of the store looking for help. With that task accomplished I went into the store to secure my carbonated delights. As I was leaving I pulled behind the young man who was still attempting to get his truck to crank. No success. I pulled beside him and asked if I needed to pull him to the edge of the lot, but he said he thought he had someone that could give him a tow home. He thanked me again and I was on my way.

As I was pulling out on to the highway I was thinking, what a neat thing to have happened. I got to help someone in an extreme way; after all it involved chains and pickup trucks. It showed me that God is in charge, even on a lazy Saturday morning. I could have stuck to my plan and rushed out of the house and been about my business, but instead I chose to be a little lazy and procrastinative (word or no word I used it). I was able to receive a blessing and be a blessing. They say if you snooze you loose, but sometimes you can make a matter pressing and miss out on a blessing (made that up too)

That is all well and good and I thanked God for the experience, but I still have a lot of work to do before July 21st. Pray for me, and Bill too.

An article about an amazing young man who qualified for the US Olympic Archery Team. By the way, he has no arms. CLICK HERE
What is your excuse? (I ask that of myself as well.)

What a great Memorial Day weekend! Nancy and I got away to the beach for a couple of days. Ahhhhhh. I actually walked over to the beach and sat in a chair in the sand and watched people and sat in a chair and watched people and sat and watched, sat and watched…sat…watched…sat. The thing that I cannot figure out is that Nancy looks forward to sitting on the beach. Me: give me AC, internet and an old movie and I am happy at the beach. We did play a round of putt golf.

I really like hanging out with her. Before we came home we went to the Pier Park area and at and shopped. Were walking back to the car, Caleb and his girlfriend were behind us cutting up and giggling and "young love" stuff. I told Nancy that I was glad that I can't say, "remember when we used to do that?" I can't say that because we still do that. We still hold hands and everything. I do most of the cutting up, but still.

I also like to ride my bicycle when I am at the beach and I got to do that a couple of times as well. From one of those bike rides I have a few awards that I would like to hand out. The first is the Rick Flair Award. This award goes to the young man that thought it would be fun to roll the window down and right at the time he passed me yell “WOOOOOOOO!” Young man, you scared me. But at least your buddies in the car think you are really cool and stuff and for the last 3 miles of my ride I had two pair of padded underwear.
The second award that I am handing out is the Captain Obvious Award. This goes to the young man that thought it would be fun to roll the window down and right at the time he passed me yell, “Hey Fatty!” Young man, you hurt me. But at least you were able to string two words together without an “um”.
You guys stop by the house and pick up your awards. I dare you.

We live in a messed up world. I hear a lot of folks that blame the government for the situation that we find ourselves. I don’t think that the government has a whole lot to do with it. I think that there are a whole lot of people, like my recent award winners, that just don’t really care about anyone but themselves. Here are a few things that you can try that will prove my point:
(1) Spend some time observing an intersection with a stop sign. It can be a 4-way or a regular way, just an intersection with a stop sign. Find a spot close by, but please not on the side of the road, preferable in a parking lot with a goof view of the intersection. As you sit there watch how many vehicles DO NOT stop. Why don’t they stop? What are they thinking? Who are they focused on?
Another thing to watch is how many folks cut it short when turning on to the next road. By that I mean instead of making the turn into the correct lane they turn short and actually cut into the opposite lane. I call it “cheating the road” or lazy for short.
(2) Spend some time observing the activities in a parking lot. This is a gold mine. Pick a spot in the outer edge of the parking lot, but a vantage point from which you can see the whole parking lot. As you sit there watch how many vehicles cut through the parking lot. Watch how many go the wrong way. Watch how many people DO NOT put their buggy in the buggy barn or their cart in the cart corral.

There is no way that the government is responsible for that, but I will admit they seem to do their part of pervert society. So, what about my two award winners? Is it their fault that they are the way they are or is it someone else’s? No need to look it up. It is their fault. Just as I am responsible for my actions, we are each responsible. Something as simple as living by the Golden Rule would do so much to repair our damaged society.

Oh, before you think that I am a goodie two shoes; if I had been carrying a gun the other day while riding my bike and my award winners did what they did, I would be writing this from jail because I would have shot a whole bunch of bullets at each of those vehicles. At least that was my fantasy. Either that or pelted them with paint balls and then call the police and identify the vehicles from the paint splatter and have then arrested for mental abuse and anguish. Or, I would have stuck my tongue out at them, no, raised my fist in anger. Yeah, raised my fist in anger that would have shown them....

But, alas I am faced with the words from my favorite Bible verse, Psalm 34:14, “Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” That is was I am going to attempt to do as my part of helping society. Join me?

The Train

After dropping Caleb off at the Wallace College place this morning I was delayed by a train. I heard the horn blowing as I was leaving the parking lot and wondered from whence it came. I noticed that vehicles had already stopped at the crossing. The lights were blinking, the bell was ringing and the bar was blocking the way. As the train passed I looked to see how many engines it had. You can tell if it is a long train or not by the number of engines pulling it, most of the time. There was only one. It was a short one. As the train passed I realized that I had forgotten just how enchanting trains are. Now "enchanting" is not a word that I just throw around. It has to be a specific occasion. A special specific occasion. I guess what made this encounter enchanting was that I was not so caught up in getting somewhere that I missed the beauty of the moment. How can tons of iron rolling by pulled by a gigantic diesel powered engine be beautiful? Maybe the beauty is not found in what you see, but what you feel. As the train rolled by I could hear its special unique rhythm, a squeal, a squeak, a thud. As the train rolled by I could feel the ground tremble, a gentle sort of tremble. As the train rolled by I felt peace. Thanks train.