God's Grandeur on the Bay

If you have read my wife's blog you know that our baby is stubbornly modest. So modest in fact that it has chosen not to reveal, just yet, whether or not it is male or female. At one point during the ultrasound we had a clear picture on the screen of two leg bones forming a perfect "X" over the part of the body that held the most interest for us. But, the little one is healthy and doing well. I will get back you when we have more information.

I was thinking today about the fact that I don't live in the most beautiful place on the planet. In fact, we are so far down on the list of beautiful places that it is probably better to flip it over and call it "The List of Least Beautiful Places" just so we have the privilege of being high up on a list at all.

Yes, I live near the ocean and right on a bay. And I am sure that that some speck of beauty did exist here at some point. But, most of it is now covered up by industry. Every time I drive over the Fred Hartman bridge I peer over the edge hoping to see deep blue water stretching out of sight, bordered on the shores nearest me by thick forests or rocky cliffs. Instead, I get a heaving mass of what looks like liquid dirt surrounded by a drab landscape dotted with refineries, giant metal footsteps of "progress" trudging through a muddy bog. Oh, how it stirs the soul!

But, really I'm not complaining. (I couldn't do that so close to Thanksgiving) A few days ago I would have been complaining but then a day like today comes. The temperature is perfect. The sky is clear. The smells of the factories are blowing away from me. It is a beautiful day. It is a day that reminded me of a poem I read years ago that did stir my spirit. So, please take these words of Gerard Manley Hopkins as my Thanksgiving gift to you. Take them and enjoy them, preferrably outdoors in whatever place it is where you sense the grandeur of God.

God's Grandeur

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs -
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Should I blog? OK, sure. Why not?

Though somewhat shameful, the title of this entry is the word-for-word inner dialogue that led to this post. I know, I know. If that was all it took why didn't I blog sooner? That's what you're asking, isn't it?

Well, let's just pretend that I have a really good excuse for not blogging. OK? For instance, I could have been on a missionary journey deep in the dark recesses of the jungles of the country of your choice. Or I could have been off climbing mountains in Nepal. Or I could have entered the Witness Protection Program after ratting out the bosses of my Mafia family only to be let out of the Program following the death of said bosses in a freak weekend barbecue "accident". You pick the excuse.

What I can tell you is that life has been hectic for the past however long its been since last we talked. Church work has required quite a bit from me lately. My truck was stolen and then returned, only slightly damamged and full of the enticing aroma of Marlboro's and Black N Mild's (see the wife's blog for the full account)
We moved from our apartment to a rent house. I spent another week in the woods with the senior adults from church chasing butterflies, working on jigsaw puzzles and discussing the theological importance of the Book of Jonah. We travelled a lot this summer. Nowhere exotic or really memorable (for that type of story please see Katie or Shanta's blogs), but the trips were fun all the same. For church I have planned events, written group studies, taught classes, visited hospitals, sang songs with kids, fixed sound equipment, ruffled feathers, smoothed feathers (not necessarily the ones I ruffled), and I loved every, most, some of every minute of it.

OK, and then there was the really big news. Hopefully, most of you know and aren't finding this out for the first time here. I waited until I thought most of you knew before I sprang this on the blog. So, here goes. Without further delay, here is the big news: Britney and K-Fed are getting divorced. Ok, just kidding.

We're pregnant!!! I know some of you are saying, "No, Jacquie's pregnant, you're expecting." But, those of you who are saying this have obviously not seen a sideview picture of me lately. Just as many loving spouses shave their heads for a wife who is undergoing chemotherapy, I have spent many long years developing a large belly as a sympathetic gesture for my pregnant wife. OK, no, not even close to anything like that.

Jokes aside, we are really excited about the new addition. We will hopefully find out soon whether this will be a female or male child. Feel free to cast your vote for the gender and even some name suggestions in the Comment section. However, I must warn you that we already have names picked out and have had them for a while. We will wait to reveal those later.

Please be praying for the baby, its beautiful mother, and its nervous-and-pumped-all-in-one-breath father. We would appreciate it. All three of us.