Hanging Loose at my old stomping grounds

BAY MINETTE, Ala. --- We remain in Alabama at Mom's house as we try to help out in preparations for my cousin Brandon's wedding, the arrival of out of town family, caring for my grandmother and working on the house.

I've been working on my tan lately, spending as much time as I can outside repairing and painting my mom's house and preparing to lay hardwood floors tomorrow morning before out of town family arrive tomorrow night for my cousin's wedding.

I start my days at the nursing home - yes, there are some of the residents who can walk faster than me - visiting my grandmother and remembering a lot of stories with her. We drink coffee together and I read the Psalms when we don't have anything in particular to say, but it just means the world to be able to spend time with her. Sometimes its just a comfort for her to wake up from sleep to see somebody there. My cousin-in-law Lance, who just graced the pages of the Mobile Press Register by burning down a house - its okay, he's a firefighter - stops by every morning after his shift and tells her he's taking her dancing and she just smiles the biggest smile. He's helping out with the house repairs as well.

Our on the road library has expanded after  trip to the local Barnes and Nobles yesterday. We've been reading Shane Claiborne's Ordinary Radical, which is amazingly changing our perspectives of the world, and we've also got Jesus for President, and Brian McLaren's Everything Must Change - all about how we Christians need to be walking out what Jesus was doing toward bringing social justice to the world. To that, we added two books by Mother Theresa and a collection of Martin Luther King, Jr's essays and sermons. We also found a book by Bono about the Jubilee in Africa and the need for aid to Africa, a photo book of the U2 tours and a sociology book called Hippies - which is about hippies. Also, a green building book about solar power.

We've been imagining a different world lately, dreaming with Shane Claiborne and Brian McClarren and Rob Bell about a new kind of church congregation we hope to start in Boone after the move.  We've also been talking about the need to be more creative and open with what we are doing for the society around us. More on that later.

The IN THE BEGINNING ... series is really taking shape and I've even started on Chapter 2 of Genesis, which expands on Chapter 1. I've completed two sketches, though I am going to need to pick up some more paper before I can start the second chapter series.