Most mornings during my drive to work I am still trying to wake up, so the radio is just something for noise, but the other day the following useless trivia caught my attention. So most of you know I enjoy useless trivia… Hope you will enjoy.

In merry old England, they started running out of room to bury people, so they started digging up coffins and would take the bones to the "bone house". When opening these coffins, they found that 1 in 25 coffins had scratch marks on the inside. Realizing that they were burying people alive, they came up with a solution. They tied a string onto the "dead" person's hand, buried them, and tied the other end of the string to a bell and then looped the string over a nearby tree branch. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (grave yard shift) to listen for the bell. If the person revived enough to ring the bell (saved by the bell and/or dead ringer), their survivors would rush out and dig them up.

So the next time you use one of these saying, “graveyard shift”, ”saved by the bell” or “dead ringer”, you will know where the saying came from.

I received the following email the other day and wanted to pass it on.

Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet pilot in Vietnam,
After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a
Surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands

He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison.

He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience!

One day, while Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table come up and said, “You’re Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!”

“How in the world did you know that?” asked Plumb.

“I packed you parachute.” The man replied.

Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude.

The man pumped his hand and said, “I guess it worked!”

Plumb assured him, “It sure did. If your chute hadn’t worked, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Plumb couldn’t sleep that night, thinking about that man.

Plumb says, “I kept wondering what he had looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat; a bib in the back; and bell-bottom trousers.

I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said Good morning, how are you? Or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor.

Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor has spent at a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn’t know.

Now, Plumb asks his audience,

“Who’s packing your parachute?’

Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day.

He also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory-he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute.

He called on all these supports before reaching safety.

Sometime in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important.

We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason. As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognize people who pack your parachutes.

Thanks to so many of you, for packing my parachute. And a special thanks for my dear friend who is continually packs my chute.

Another VBS has come and gone…. I hope and pray the teen class will remember some of what we studied this past week. The week had a big impact on me spiritually. I desire more that ever to be poor in spirit, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful, to be pure in heart, to mourn and to look at myself and other as Jesus would.

I added a new link VBS2 for additional pics.

After Friday night’s VBS I headed out, with three of my dearest friends, for a long weekend of R&R at the lake. The weekend was spent sleeping late, eating too much, a good Saturday afternoon nap, boating ridding, tubing and nightly HGTV. O’ and how can I forget learning to knee board, lets say I have a lot more to learn. A great weekend was had by all.

Tuesday morning my feet hit the floor running. I had an early morning flight to Portland OR. The Atlanta to Portland flight was a very long flight, 2300 miles \ 4 ½ hours. Just as we were approaching Portland I was prompted to look out my window. As I turned, not sure what I was going to see, the next moment was breathing taking. It was Mt Hood. It looked like I could reach out and touch the massive mountain. It was at that point I wondered how people can believe the wonders of this earth just happened.

After we landed we rented and car and headed out for a 2 hour road trip. We ended up at Astoria, OR, our final destination. Astoria is located in the Northwest corner of OR, on the Columbia River. It is very beautiful old town. Nice place to be, if you have to be out of town. Below are a few pictures from around town. Hope you enjoy


Astoria Column (its the object sticking up in the middle of the pic)

View of the Columbia River


Bridge over the River leads to WA state

After 150 feet of chicken wire, 20 bottles of glue, a truck load of sand, 4 too many walls to faux paint, 5 life size drawings to color , dying the tent 2 different times and may hours of hard work the Cave Room was finished and the diggers all came (our theme is "Can You Dig It).
I would say the first night was a success.

Many thanks to all the members of the “A” team, MaMa Henny, Kory, Marissa, Lynn and Bryan the builder. Way to go Bryan.
Think we all would agree the time spent has already been worth it.

I have posted a few pictures, clink on the VBS link. Enjoy. By the way Kory was the photographer for the evening, which will explain some of the pics

HELP!


It's Getting a Little Sticky

I Can Do It....


You want me to do what??

Daddy's 80th Birthday Part