Deep in the Heart of Nashville

NASHVILLE, TN, Sept. 6, 2005 -- The Steve McNair Foundation coordinated a massive relief effort at the Coliseum on Tuesday, loading more than 20 trucks full of donated items ranging from food, clothing and other supplies to send to hurricane victims along Mississippi's Gulf Coast in McNair's home state.

One word to describe the Nashville community's response to the Hurricane Relief Drive: Overwhelming.

read the rest of the story by Patrick Finch here: Tennessee Titans News

Also Liz Garrigan from the Nashville Scene celebrates what we all love about how Nashville Responds

"... churches, businesses and neighborhood groups are all scurrying to organize food drives, blood drives, clothing drives. People are gathering luggage, Band-Aids, diapers, whatever they can think of. It’s clear that Nashville is as flooded with goodwill as New Orleans is with biohazardous, disease-carrying water."

Looking to serve?
Hands On Nashville is the recognized leader of programs, partnerships and services that maximize volunteer impact in the greater Nashville community. They offer a variety of programs and resources that empower people to make volunteering a regular part of their lives.

Image source: BuffaloWorks

Day 7 of 100 blogs in 100 days

Day seven of 100 blogs in my ongoing quest to visit 100 blogs in 100 days (I found a gem!)

As a music lover and active in the space when I worked for Warner/Elektra/Atlantic from '76 to '84 and also having grown up fed from the musical breast milk of the transistor radio, this blog is a very conversational expression of one's love for music.

When I dropped by for a visit, the conversations were engaging and the mere mention of a particular title took me back to a specific marker in time. Speaks well to the power of great music... Recent entries discuss Michelle Shocked; In My Life by the Beatles; Bob Dylan... This site is a perfect companion to my Napster subscription -

Tangled Up In Blue

Glen Dean tells us What This Website Is All About.

As most of you know, I have been operating a political blog since January 1, 2005. I love to talk about politics, but in spite of what some of you may gather from reading Nashville Truth.

I don't hate those who disagree with me. In fact, I think most people on both sides are very sincere in their beliefs and most are really good people. Being that I am a libertarian/conservative, I even find myself agreeing with many liberals on social issues. But when it comes to the issue of capitalism and the free market, our differences sometimes cause some very heated discussions. But I still don't think that we are all that different. If we really were to ever sit down and talk about something other than politics and religion, we might actually find out that we liked each other. That is what this website is all about, having people who see things from a totally different point of view, sit around and discuss something that we might have in common.

Thanks Glen - good stuff -

Picture Source: Caroline James

Passion's new web site...

passion website

Passion has a new website redesign - featuring beautiful craftsmanship by Pixel Peach Studio

Who is Passion? They are the people behind Passion Worship CDs, the OneDay gatherings, sixstepsrecords, the 268 Declaration and, of course, Passion Conferences.

Passion has been around since 1997 with a desire to see spiritual awakening come to the college campuses of the nation and the world. More than a conference organization, the Passion movement is headquartered in the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta, GA. The small Passion Team is led by Louie Giglio and operates under the direction of a Board that is committed to spreading the fame of Jesus Christ to the 16+million college students of the nation and countless others around the globe.

And they are coming to Nashville January 2-6, 2006 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center. Can't wait... Catch the vision here passion06

Check out the student nexus, where you can get involved and help Passion spread the word about passion06 to your campus, ministry, church, and city... here at the Passion Blog and podcasts...

Day 6 of 100 blogs

Bone marrow smear

leukemiasurvivor.com:

Today is day six of my endeavor to visit 100 blogs in 100 days.

Robert shares / recounts his brave and at times, raw retelling / reliving of his battle with leukemia, chemotherapy, and moving on with the rest of his life.

"I had leukemia, okay. I had it and now I don't and that should be that. Only it's not. It's a memory that won't go away. Not a haunting memory, not a slow motion replay of a rear-end collision where you find yourself clenching your arms against the seat, looking back over your shoulder for the too-fast car that isn't there. No. Leukemia is vague with occasional flashes of coherence. It is a constant hum.

Back in the summer of 1992, I would be sitting on the back porch with Dad and Jane, all of us sharing sections from the thick Sunday paper, arguing over who would get the comics first, when a palpable memory would surprise me. I would not be expecting it, and the memories were still so fresh."

At times, we just have to sit and listen... really listen - there's pain, but times of celebration as well. Thanks Robert for sharing - and inviting us in to visit.

"Shawshank Redemption": Freedom Follows Beauty

In the film The Shawshank Redemption, Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman) tells the story of Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins)—a young, successful banker wrongly convicted of murdering his wife in 1947 and sentenced to two consecutive life terms at Shawshank Prison.

At one point in the film, Dufresne is given the task of sorting through a whole load of classical records that were donated to the prison. In the process he finds and plays a beautiful operatic piece, even though it's against prison regulations. The guard hears him and asks what is happening. Dufresne locks himself in to the sound booth and switches on the PA system that reaches the whole prison—the cells, the yard, and the hospital. He plays the music full blast through the speakers. Everyone in the whole prison stops what they are doing and listens.

At this point Morgan Freeman comments:

I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I'd like to think they were singing about something so beautiful it can't be expressed in words. It makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you those voices soared. Higher and farther than anyone in the great place dared to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away. And for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free.

Elapsed Time: 01:02:00 to 01:05:00

Citation: The Shawshank Redemption (Castle Rock, 1994); based on the short novel Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King, directed by Frank Darabont; submitted by Andy Scarcliffe, Edinburgh, Scotland

Source: Preaching Today

Day 5 of 100 blogs in 100 days

image © 1998 by Randy Wang

Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never Is, but always To be blest:
The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

-Alexander Pope,
An Essay on Man, Epistle I, 1733

Today is day five of my endeavor to visit 100 blogs in 100 days.

Surfing through sevety blogs thus far (all bookmarked) it really is hard to find a blog that doesn't have the "F" word, full of nothing but hyperlinks (isn't that what Google is for?) and blogs that do nothing but stir up dissention - conversation is good, dissention is not my cup of tea.

Appropriately, Lu provides A Voice of Hope - her byline is from Matthew 11:28-29 when Jesus asks: "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me--watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

Visiting her blog does exude hope... compassion... faith... and I think yearning to be postured in a place where she is practicing God's presence in a honest, conversational way.

Thanks LU for an encouraging visit. Keep the door open for others to stop by as well.

"I'm sitting at Panera's, finishing up my Chai and watching the rain pour down. It looks like God just took a full bucket and dumped on top of Nashville. Could life get more perfect?

Well, yeah, actually it could. :) I could have a job, that would make it more perfect. And a place to live, that would even be better.... odd how I think a place to live is better than a job, isn't it. Guess this unemployment-just-hangin'-with-my-friends stuff is really growing on me. Ah, but alas, money makes the world go 'round... at least so think the bill collectors. So a job I must get. And soon!

John's parents are being very gracious and allowing me to take up space in their home. But I don't want to overstay my welcome. And I'd really like to stop living out of my suitcase and car. It'd be so nice to actually spread out my stuff and be able to leave it where it is instead of packing it back up each time I use it. Besides, I haven't seen all my own belongings in over a year. When I finally do get to unpack it all it will feel like Christmas!

However, rent here is more than I was lead to believe. Soooo, I really need a roommate. Or a miracle. I'll take either one.

Jobs seem to be scarce too. No one but coffee houses and retailers are hiring, and even their positions are limited. Hmmm....

Two Miracles to go, please!

On a more positive note, all this free time is giving me more time to spend with God. Most of that is still spent in pleading for His intervention for a job or apartment, or for His comfort as my heart continues to ache from the gaping hole mom and dad's deaths have left.

However, more and more I crave to hear from Him; hear His voice calling up through His Word, or suddenly grabbing my attention with a new nugget of Truth.

A Builder Or a Wrecker

www.newtrier.k12.il.us/.../ wreckingball1955.jpg

A Builder Or a Wrecker

As I watched them tear a building down
A gang of men in a busy town
With a ho-heave-ho, and a lusty yell
They swung a beam and the side wall fell

I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled,
And the men you’d hire if you wanted to build?”
He gave a laugh and said, “No, indeed,
Just common labor is all I need.”

“I can easily wreck in a day or two,
What builders have taken years to do.”
And I thought to myself, as I went my way
Which of these roles have I tried to play?

Am I a builder who works with care,
Measuring life by rule and square?
Am I shaping my work to a well-made plan
Patiently doing the best I can?

Or am I a wrecker who walks to town
Content with the labor of tearing down?
“O Lord let my life and my labors be
That which will build for eternity!”

Author Unknown
The Increase, 35th Anniversary Issue, 1993, p. 9

Wired News: Too Many People in Nature's Way

Rick Wilking/Reuters

Wired News: Too Many People in Nature's Way

The prospect of more vulnerable populations on a more turbulent Earth has U.N. officials and other advocates pressuring governments to plan and prepare. They cite examples of poorer nations that in ways do a better job than the rich:

• No one was reported killed when Ivan struck Cuba in 2004, its worst hurricane in 50 years and a storm that, after weakening, killed 25 people in the United States. Cuba's warning-evacuation system is minutely planned, even down to neighborhood workers keeping updated charts on which residents need help during evacuations.
• Along Bangladesh's cyclone coast, 33,000 well-organized volunteers stand ready to shepherd neighbors to raised concrete shelters at the approach of one of the Bay of Bengal's vicious storms.
• In 2002, Jamaica conducted a full-scale evacuation rehearsal in a low-lying suburb of coastal Kingston, and fine-tuned plans afterward. When Ivan's 20-foot surge destroyed hundreds of homes two years later, only eight people died. Ordinary Jamaicans also are taught search-and-rescue methods and towns at risk have trained flood-alert teams.
  

Might be a good time to know thy neighbor...

Day 4 of 100 blogs in 100 days

www.vesledaniel.no/.../ Small/2nd/Treehugger.jpg

Today is day four of my endeavor to visit 100 blogs in 100 days.

I ran across Tree Hugger and while I guess it is not technically a blog, it sure reads like one... and despite the stereotype photo above, I actually found this site to be informative, full of very cool stuff like furniture, architecture, un-treehugger behavior and products and a welcome break from the tech type forums and gadget sites that I visit. They have electronics too! Nice change of pace for me... I must be getting ecologically sensitive... (not that there's anything wrong with that...)

TreeHugger is a fast-growing web magazine, dedicated to everything that has a modern aesthetic yet is environmentally responsible. Our influential audience stops by frequently to check out the latest news, reviews and recommendations for modern yet green products and services. Consumers also rely on the directory to help facilitate their buying processes. TreeHugger is the most effective way for them to find well designed products that are also ecologically sensitive.

I'm with ya'll! 'cuse me while I give a hug...

August is finally gone....

www.siec.k12.in.us/.../ month/calendar/AUGUST.GIF

The month of August -

August -- Augustus Caesar's month
Latin Augustus "Augustus"
Latin Augustus mensis "month of Augustus"
Latin sextilis mensis "sixth month"
Sextilis had 30 days, until Numa when it had 29 days, until Julius when it became 31 days long.

Augustus Caesar clarified and completed the calendar reform of Julius Caesar. In the process, he also renamed this month after himself.

That was then... but now August is only good for three things: my wife's birthday, watermelons and tomatoes - other than that, it's blistering hot, humid and a month with no holidays -

But September is here which means that I can cheer on my beloved Dallas Cowboys and Tennessee Titans! NFL Football is finally here!