Today we had lunch at The Flying Fish restaurant in Memphis. For those of you who are lucky enough to have one of those very entertaining Big Mouth Billy Basses, you know, the ones that sing and wiggle; you will be thrilled to know the Flying Fish maintains an adoption center for Big Mouth Billy Basses. You even get a free lunch for bringing in your Billy. There is just no end to the opportunities for care and compassion.
We are visiting with Scott and Alison in Atoka, TN. Yesterday we went to Reelfoot Lake to fish. We spent the day on a pontoon boat. There were only a few fish caught but it was an enjoyable experience. Today, Scott and I fished at the lake in his neighborhood. It is a really nice lake and we caught numerous fish… bass, catfish and bluegill. The highlight of the morning was Scott catching a great largemouth bass. It measured 20″ and I estimated it to weigh 5-6 lbs. It is a personal record for him. It was an exciting catch. He fought the bass for several minutes and finally got him to the bank, at which point he broke the line. Scott leaped on him before he could slip away. Unfortunately, Scott pulled his groin doing so. Despite his smile in the picture he was in great pain. He seems to have recovered this afternoon. He is definitely a “fishing man”.
This evening the Crocketts came over and enjoyed our hot tub.
It is always helpful when someone has had similar experiences and they share what they learned. I have been reading Jason Zaharaides’ blog for quite some time. He is, as you will see, entering the Eastern Orthodox church. I have found his posts about his journey toward Eastern Orthodoxy interesting (Post #1) (Post#2). I thought these posts are helpful on several counts. 1) He summarizes the issues with consumer church. 2) He describes his emerging church response to the consumer church and finally he talks about the short comings of his emerging church experience. I’m not of any mind to head to Eastern Orthodoxy but I think he is right about the need for community and liturgy. I have not progressed nearly as far as Jason in my journey away from the consumer church, but I think the lessons Jason learned are very helpful in thinking about where to go from here.
We had an exciting ball game today. The Rangers played the Phillies. The game was tied 11-11 and it was the bottom of the 6th and the Rangers were up to bat. The bottom of the batting order was up. The first batter stuck out. The second hitter makes a great bunt and gets on. He advances to second on a fielder’s choice. Two men out. The lead off hitter, Blake Crockett, comes to bat. He has had a tough day at the plate, three strike outs. He swings and misses two pitches. Then he fouls off two more pitches. The count is 0-2. The next pitch is down the middle and Blake drives it into right center field for a walk off double to win the game, 12-11. GO RANGERS!
Blake is a great ball player, but I am considering retaining an agent to help develop his media skills. Watch the video and you will understand why.