KICK- INSTALLMENT #1

Kick put his truck into neutral as it glided off the end of the dirt road into an overgrown clearing. The tall grass and weeds hissed along the sides of the old Dodge Ram as it rolled to a stop under a pine tree. A cloud of dust followed it, floating lazily into the clearing. For a moment, before the engine died, the faint sound of music emanated from the truck. Then the engine stopped and all was quiet. The door opened with a creak, and Kick, dressed as he always did in gray sweatpants and a tired old plaid shirt, stepped down and walked around to the back of the truck where he retrieved a tackle box and fishing pole. He started towards the woods before turning around to get some beer he had forgotten in the cab. These he crammed into his tackle box before making his way into the woods.

Kick followed a trail, which in former days had been a continuation of the road, as it made its way down to the lake. Small saplings, no thicker than your wrist, flanked him on either side as he walked. The narrow path, which was maintained by snowmobilers in the winter, was not used much otherwise, and Kick felt comfortable enough in his solitude to smoke a joint as he walked along.

...to be continued.

VERY X-FILES!!!

Strange phenomenon in Maryland town has authorities baffled.

SOMETHING DIED IN OUR PARKING LOT

ANY MORE? WHAT YA GOT, JACK?!?!

Jack Pot
Jack Rabbit
Jack-O-Lantern
Jack of all trades
Jacked up
Jack Hammer
Count Jackula
Highjack
Carjack
Flap Jack
Jackelope
Jackal
Jackanapes
Jackass
Jackboot
Jackdaw
Jacket
Jack in the Box
Jack in the Pulpit
Jackknife
Jack Screw
Black Jack
Jack Russell Terrier
Lumberjack
Cracker Jack
Jack Sprat could eat no fat...
Jumpin' Jack Flash
Jack and Jill

FOR PAUL AND LISA

A trickle of water
A slimy rock
A quiet greenish pool

Amidst

Dry and crackly woods-
Brittle and thirsty-
Dusty and brown-

Surround

A trickle of water
A slimy rock
A quiet greenish pool

NOT A MAN

Why is America so intent on pretending, along with this woman, that she is a man?

I, frankly, am not suprised that a woman with a vagina and uterus has been found to be in a family way. Where's the story?

THERE IS A KINSHIP BETWEEN ALL JOSH TATES

I also like sweet, sweet corn on the cob!

I also have interesting talents.

I also appreciate that it takes more than a castle and a mouse to make people's dreams come true.

Five cents to bust up a chiffarobe!!!!

PUDDING

I don't know why pudding isn't more popular. In most respects, I think it is superior to ice cream. I think America needs to give pudding another look. I would almost always prefer a bowl of pudding to any other desert. Am I alone in this? Who's with me? C'mon America!

Cruisers idling on the side of the interstate
Like crocodiles on the riverbank.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAREST!!!

A groan escaped me as I looked at the clock and saw that it was 2:30 a.m. My shift had ended at 10:30, but the domestic assault/drug case I had responded to 15 minutes before the end of my shift had required me to hang over. My eyes, red and glassy from fatigue, watched the 5 page affidavit emerge from the printer. Snatching them out of the tray, I walked into the Sgt's office, signed them, and shoved them across the desk at Sgt Dunn to be notarized. "Rough night, eh?" she asked as she scribbled her signature on the last form and handed them back to me. I nodded. "Why did it take so long?" she asked. "He had to be cleared at the hospital before I could transport him to the prison," I answered.

"Have a good night, Josh. I'll see ya tomorrow."

"Good night, Judy."

I shuffled into the dispatch office, slid the case into the bin for outgoing court documents and said "goodnight" to the dispatcher. After changing out of my uniform and into my street clothes I stepped out of the police department and started walking home. Back then we only lived about a block from where I worked. It was a bitterly cold night though. As I walked down the quiet street I began shaking and my teeth were chattering violently. The cold night air was cutting through my clothes like I was dressed in paper and my feet, fingers and nose felt like blocks of ice. My feet had already been cold from the thin leather boots I wore as part of my uniform, but now they were just screaming for relief.

As soon as I got home I stripped down to my boxers and t-shirt and slid into the warm bed next to Sarah. The heavy sheets and blankets, warmed by her body, felt like heaven next to my cold skin. I consciously avoided touching any part of Sarah because every part of me was so cold, and I didn't want to wake her up, but then Sarah's feet slid toward me. She took my cold feet between her own and began rubbing them back and forth- taking my coldness and leaving me her warmth.

...taking my coldness and leaving me her warmth.

...and that a familiar theme in our marriage. I love you, Dearest. I am a lucky man. Happy Birthday!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE PERSON IN THE WHOLE WORLD!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!

Recently, I was walking through the parking lot on my way to the camp’s office when I saw a woman standing at the far end of the ball field taking a picture. At first, it wasn’t clear to me what she was photographing. Her camera was aimed in the general direction of the maintenance yard, but when I looked in that direction I didn’t see anything worthy of being photographed- just a line of shaggy cypresses that flank the driveway and the entrance to the maintenance yard. I looked back at the woman who was still busily taking pictures. Convinced I had missed something I scanned the area a second time, but still saw nothing. As the woman walked off the field I asked her what she had been photographing. She pointed toward the peak of Mt Tahquitz in the background, and said, “Aren’t the mountains incredible?”

Isn’t it amazing how easily we can become habituated to truly remarkable things? To me, a guy who lives and works in the mountains, the view of Mt Tahquitz had become an unremarkable backdrop, but to this woman it was “incredible.” It never even occurred to me that she might be photographing Tahquitz even though it dominates the horizon. We were looking at the same scene, but it affected us very differently.

This reminds me of Matthew 13:54-58, which reads as follows; “When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”

Jesus was not common (anything but!), but to His neighbors He seemed common. To them He was just the son of a carpenter…a fellow who had grown up among them…from a humble and unremarkable family. Unbelievably, His neighbors, and even His family (John 7:5), didn’t recognize Him for who He was, and these were the people who would have known Him best. They didn’t believe Him. They thought of Him as common. They must have thought all the hoopla surrounding Jesus was very strange. I can imagine them saying, “It’s just Jesus!” And when confronted with Jesus’ wisdom and mighty works they couldn’t reconcile these experiences with the Jesus that they thought they knew. Whereas others saw Jesus as something wonderful, new and remarkable His neighbors and family remained skeptical. And because of their lack of faith, Jesus did not do many mighty works there.

I’m aware that many of you, like me, grew up in the church, and in a very real sense we grew up around Jesus. We went over to his house on Sundays. We attended Sunday school and VBS. We have sat through countless hours of sermons, prayer meetings, and Bible studies. Yet, for some, the years have dulled their passion, and have caused them to question the efficacy of prayer. For some, their walk has been reduced to a ritualistic pattern of dates, times and obligations. There is a warning here for any of us who have begun to view the church or our relationship with Christ as unremarkable…a common thing. If this sentiment could be true of people who met Jesus in the flesh, heard Him speak and witnessed His miracles it can certainly be true of us today. In scripture, Jesus performs some miracles as an aid to faith, and certainly His victory over death is the best example of that truth. In many other instances though He performs His mighty works in response to faith. “Be of good cheer, daughter, your faith has made you well.” (Matthew 9:23b) If our hearts are essentially the same before Christ as His neighbors in Matthew 13, than it follows that He will not do many mighty works in us either, and that not from want of grace or power in Christ, but rather from a lack of faith in us. Many of us want to see Christ move in powerful ways, but in our heart of hearts we simply don’t believe that He will. We have been habituated over the discouraging years to regard Christ’s statement, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God,” as an inspiring thought rather than a truth to live by. Over time, if we’re not careful, our relationship with Christ can become something we take for granted…something we’ve come to view as common and unremarkable. As a result, we may cease to believe in our heart of hearts that uncommon things can truly happen.

BOWDEN!!! DID YOU DO THIS?

1996

HAPPY DAY!!!

That's right folks, the NFL announced this past week that the Redskins will play in the league's season opener against defending super bowl champs and division rivals the New York Giants on Thursday September 4th at 8:30 EST.

Happy Day, celebrated annually on the date of the first nationally televised Redskins game is one of the most important holidays on the Tate calendar. We'll be eating Ro-Tel and screaming at the television in no time... no time at all.

LUKE 24:32

They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures to us?"

I SHAVED MY BEARD!!!

For the first time in a long while I am without facial hair, and I do feel a little naked. I'm enjoying the novelty of a smooth chin though. Bowden says he wants me to grow the beard back, but I think I will go sans beard at least through the summer.