Today my family will lay to rest my mother's oldest sister - Laura Allen (Weaver) Weatherford. She passed away on Tuesday (August 20), only one week shy of her 82nd birthday. We will all miss her, and would appreciate all your prayers, especially for her children;  grandchildren; brothers and sisters.

Aunt Laura was one of the most caring, loving people I know. Her commitment to Christ and to missionary work was always the first thing that I thought of when I heard mention of her. Memorial services are this morning.

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

"But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." -- A. Lincoln

Also, note this link: http://www.nps.gov/ncro/anti/emancipation.html

I'd like to take a moment to say a simple happy birthday to the Church. Luke records it this way:

Acts 2 When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying. ³ And tongues, like flames of fire that were divided, appeared to them and rested on each one of them. ⁴ Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different languages, as the Spirit gave them ability for speech.

(from BibleGateway.com)

For a great explanation of this moment (called "Pentecost") check out the Methodist videoblog below:

I learned this evening that another of my faith heroes has gone on to his reward. (http://www.baptiststandard.com/news/texas/15034-baptist-historian-and-professor-leon-mcbeth-dies)

One of the highlights of my seminary education was learning Christian and Baptist History under one who wrote the book (literally). Leon McBeth made studying the dusty old annals of Baptist History fun somehow. The year that his extensive The Baptist Heritage (which he lovingly referred to as "the doorstop") was published, was the year I had Baptist History. Delays in printing caused us to receive our copies of the book which was to be our text for the class six weeks into the semester. Undaunting, Dr. McBeth was kind enough to sign my copy anyway.

Yet another hero who will be missed (by me anyway).

Today, we say good-bye to one of the more powerful voices of faith - George Beverly Shea. Read about it here. And then enjoy one of his more well-known songs:

In this world of social networking, filled with misspellings (thank you text-messaging) and improper usage, I have constantly been annoyed by those on the WWW who just don't get the difference between 'than' and 'then.'

And then I see this interchange on Facebook by a couple of guys who DO get it:

My friend (in his "status"): "Wishing I could go fishing. I would rather fish than eat. And that's saying something."


His Friend (as a comment): "I would rather fish THEN eat."

I've underlined the words that so often offend, but in this case are used correctly.

Thanks to Randy Mullinax and Steve Hamrick via Facebook for diligently using their thans and thens correctly.

I've loved "The Good Life" ever since I discovered it had wandered across the Pond and renamed itself "Good Neighbors" for the American audience. Today, I learned that the principle actor - Richard Briers - has died. So we must say, "So long" to a great friend from the screen, and watch a few episodes of self-sufficiency to make the day seem right. (HT to Bill Crider)



Here's a word from Briers' co-star, Penelope Keith. (Apparently she's having some trouble with her earpiece.)

Since we have decided to combine all the President's into one day and shove it between Lincoln and Washington, I wish you happy day today, and I'll do it with a song. [Please note that I know it is "President's Day" and not "King's Day" but the sentiment is well-played.]

This one's for you:

It seems that St. Louis has made national headlines. Here's some of the local commentary:



Here's a piece I wrote that deals with the issue of tipping.

Always on the lookout for new and unusual holidays to celebrate, today I had to look no further than my early morning news. One of my favorite local reporters, who is always also on the lookout for the unusual, discovered that today is the 13th annual Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day. I don't know whether the Bubble Wrap industry or the packing and shipping industry came up with the idea or if it was a joint effort, but what could make one's day happier than to spend it self-soothing to the solid sounds of popping pockets of air. Hope you enjoy Steve Harris' report as much as I did:

Perhaps you noticed that I did the very thing I intend to gripe about in the title of this post - that is, turning a noun into a verb simply by adding the ending: -ing.

Here is the situation (and why my hackles are up about it): listening to some AM radio (they talk a lot there, and I sometimes turn over to some St. Louis stations to get more information--not about anything, just more information), the topic du jour was Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend. The two men carrying on the discussion were frothing at the mouth about how the whole story was a carrying out of a huge deception against the American (especially the sports fan) public. One of the men correctly (in usage if not in context) contended that the Notre Dame athlete was "perpetrating a fraud" while his friend agreed by saying that the young man was "frauding the American public."

When I first heard the word "fraud" used in that sense I thought that perhaps I was mistaken in my understanding of the word. After all, these men were broadcast professionals. Surely they would have a vocabulary and know how to use it. But the offense continued to niggle at me until I had to look it up. And as I suspected the word "fraud" is a noun. It denotes an act of deceit or the person who tricks another. As such the word doesn't accept the -ing ending as if the fraud is being performed at that moment or toward someone (even if it is).

But take heart! There is a verb form of the word "fraud." And that word is (drum roll please) "defraud". This handy little word is a transitive verb (meaning it has an object) that indicates the action that carries with it fraud against someone. In other words, while you cannot "fraud your neighbor," you can most certainly "defraud him".

There are a number of other nouns that we have grown fond of using as verbs simply by adding the -ing ending (I'll save the list for another time), but in a profession of communicators (in this case radio broadcasters) isn't it time we learned the correct verb form of a noun before indulging in verbification?