Once Familiar Sights I Miss Today

The Golden Gate Bridge

By Rich Niewiroski Jr. (http://www.projectrich.com/gallery) [CC-BY-2.5 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5) or Attribution], via Wikimedia Commons

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

Christ is risen! What a glorious day of commemoration for this most important of all events.

Read our special Easter issue here.

Encounter With a Black Rat Snake

Encountered this gorgeous 3 1/2-foot black rat snake today crossing the wood-chip trail I was on. Unfortunately, since I have started running some again, I did not have my camera so had to make do with my iPhone. A few days earlier I shot the lower photo of a captive specimen at the Springfield Nature Center.

What About the Cross?

Dr. Jim Bradford, General Secretary of the Assemblies of God

Living and Dying for Jesus

"I have always envied those Christians who were martyred for Christ Jesus our Lord. What a privilege to live for our Lord and to die for Him as well. I am filled to overflowing with joy; I am not only satisfied to be in prison ... but am ready to give my life for the sake of Jesus Christ."

— Mehdi Dibaj, Iranian Assemblies of God martyr

Chased by the Fire

105 years ago today, my maternal grandmother, Mary Mylon, was running for her life with her family from the Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire.

She never stopped running. It seemed that fire chased her all her life. In the chaos and confusion of escape, the Mylons were separated from one of their children, Mary's younger brother. For two days they didn't know if he was alive or dead. They feared the worst. But then he was discovered in a shelter and joyously reunited with the clan.

But everything the family had was gone.

Mary married young. Both she and Earl Corey were in their teens when they wed. He was an ambitious young man who built his own business in El Cerrito, California. They lived in the same building the business was housed in. And then the fire came again. For the second time in her life, Mary Mylon Corey lost everything she had to the flames.

Later, it seemed, the fire took her marriage too. The strain eventually took its toll and the Corey marriage ended in divorce, after three sons and a daughter, my mother, were born.

It was a day when divorce carried a stigma. Mary was crushed and never fully recovered from the blow. She never remarried, and carried bitterness throughout much of her life. She lived in our home the majority of the time after the divorce, until her death.

Her life was tragic in many ways, and I heard her recount the story of the Great Earthquake and Fire hundreds of times. She kept coming back to it. It seems it never let her go. But I saw her commit her life to Jesus and I knew she loved the Lord.

When she slipped into the Lord's presence those many years ago, finally the fire was gone ... forever. And she had a home that would never be taken from her.

Postscript:

After I posted this, a Twitter friend informed me that, ironically, a 3.8 earthquake rattled the City today. The epicenter was near Pacifica, where Peggy and I used to live. The San Jose Mercury News reported:

On the 105th anniversary of the giant 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the San Andreas fault woke up with a small shrug.

A 3.41 [later changed to 3.8] magnitude quake was reported at 2:57 p.m. on Monday afternoon, with an epicenter 8.5 miles deep located halfway between Millbrae and Pacifica, near the north end of Crystal Springs Reservoir, according to U.S. Geological Survey spokesman Paul Laustsen. The tremor was felt from San Jose to Oakland.

At 5:12 a.m. April 18, 1906, San Franciscans were jarred awake by a massive magnitude 7.9 earthquake, which caused buildings to crumble and killed an estimated 3,000 people, according to recent updated calculations by USGS.

150 Years Since the Civil War Began

We reached that milestone on April 12 with the anniversary of the firing on Fort Sumter. Since then many have focused on states' rights or other complex issues as reasons for the war. But it was about slavery. The states' rights issue rested on the slavery issue.

In his Inaugural Address in 1861, Abraham Lincoln could not have stated it more clearly: "One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute."

Barred Owl With an Affinity for the Camera

Peggy and I saw this beautiful barred owl two consecutive evening just before the sun set, on the trail we walk near our home. Here are 2 shots in 2 different locations.

Wood Duck

Peggy and I walked our near trail after work and were stunned to see one gorgeous wood duck drake in a pond we walk by. I didn't have my camera—a lesson I learn every time I leave my camera home. But this is what we saw, one of the most beautiful of all ducks.

By BS Thurner Hof (Own work) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Recap of the Historic World AG Congress in Chennai, India

My follow-up visit with Dr. George O. Wood and David Grant.

Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen Jr.

I had the privilege yesterday of meeting Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen Jr., Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth commander for the United States Army. He was previously Commander, Multinational Division North-Iraq.


























Photos Courtesy of U.S. Army: By John Helms (upper) & Sgt. Angelica Golindano

AG Faith & Science Conference

A Warning to All My Friends Who Are Hooked on Coffee

This could be you.

Banana Slug, Santa Cruz, Calif.

I saw plenty of these when I went to Bethany in Scotts Valley. This one was on the campus of the University of California at Santa Cruz, which is appropriate. Their teams are called the UCSC Banana Slugs—one of the best team names anywhere. When I played on the Bethany basketball team, we played the Banana Slugs twice each year, home and home. So I saw these critters right there on the campus of UCSC. They're quite impressive actually.

Photo by Jim Whitehead