ROLLING AND EVOLVING

The White House has made some changes this year for the annual Easter eggstravaganza, the Easter Egg Roll. In years past, people stood in line overnight for tickets. Now the 27,000 tickets are available online through a lottery. That's a reasonable change. What else is different? Let's start at the beginning...

First Lady Lucy Hayes (1877-81) started the custom of inviting children for egg rolling at Easter on the White House lawn. Music was added in 1889 as the United States Marine Band (conducted by John Philip Sousa HIMSELF) was asked to play for the children.

Here are some lost or strayed children with a White House policeman during the Easter egg roll in 1920.

This boy is proud of his prize basket at the 1929 event. I would just like to mention that the toys inside this basket would go for a fortune on eBay today. "Truss me" (as Nate would say).

During the Nixon administration, they tried an egg hunt with real eggs. Apparently all the hidden eggs were not found and that led to olfactory distress. Nixing that...the next year they introduced egg roll races, using spoons from the WH kitchen.

A member of First Lady Pat Nixon's staff was the first to dress as a human-sized bunny. Since then, furry bunnies and other book characters stroll through the crowd.

Here the White House chefs prepare eggs...

And former First Lady Barbara Bush reads to the children...

The Clinton's began a tradition of giving a souvenir wooden egg to each child as they leave the egg roll. This year the eggs are "green" (eco-friendly, created from U.S. Forest Service certified hardwood, colored with water-based coating, decorated with vegetable-based inks) and are available in a variety of colors.

The Obama White House announced that this year they have reserved 3,000 of the free tickets for students in the DC public/charter schools. The school district lady is receiving the tickets from Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Another block of tickets were reserved for gay and lesbian couples to bring their children. That would be in line with President Obama's goal of diversity and making the White House available to everyone.

You know, the Easter egg roll is not paramount on the world's scene or on anyone's urgent list. It's a children's event. But somehow all this stuff leaves me blue.

Music has gone from John Philip Sousa to Fergie in a short dress that at the least revealed a decorum deficit. She told the audience that she wore her "girlie little white dress" for Easter...and then she began a song with lyrics that required she leave out curse words. Gee, I sound like someone's mother...but PUH-LEEEZE...wasn't this an audience of children?

And what else has it become? The White House has selected a theme for the egg roll of "Ready, Set, Go". That's in keeping with their new fitness theme for children. They plan to have booths that teach sports techniques (taught by sports heroes), story telling, cooking, and live music.

Do you see the bunny on the seal? He is wearing running shorts.

Am I the only one who finds all this commotion "Third Rock from the Sun" absurd? What has any of this to do with Easter?

Of course Presidents have come and gone and they have all hosted the Easter egg roll. Isn't it just a fun, cultural tradition? Yes. It's not meant to be a religious event. True. So it's harmless?

The Easter egg roll is harmless unless the next generation has no idea why Easter is celebrated. God so loved the world....

"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life." John 3.16 TM

Outta the way, Easter Bunny! That "whole and lasting" life sounds pretty good to me!

CALLING ALL KNEE BENDERS

I was trying to remember the last time I sensed a need to call up courage. I'm talking about the nerve to really do something scary but worthy. I can remember some time ago standing out on the street with a placard as part of a demonstration. Cars went by and people pointed at us with a different finger, blew their horn, and hollered some rough words. That was minor bravery.

Perhaps you know someone staring cancer in the face...or raising kids as a single parent. Those are huge ways to build courage.

There's also another kind of fearlessness that causes me to be awestruck...a soldier's bravery to put the future in God's hands and choose to defend our country. That is the valor that defines the active duty soldier's life each day.

Just wanted to pass along a plum of a prayer request. There is a military man named Mike that has a Little Rock prayer team. (Well, it is Little Rock with branches in Baton Rouge and Fayetteville and New York City and Georgia and Texas.) We all prayed when Mike spent 18 months in Iraq. We've given prayer cover for him in Afghanistan and several other assignments. Mike's parents are friends of ours.

This time Mike will be leaving Sunday and probably be gone four months. Take a look at his beautiful family who will be waiting.

Mike's the real deal. He serves the Lord faithfully and serves our country with honor. If the Spirit brings Mike to mind in the months ahead, would you join in prayer for him? His Mom is holding onto Psalm 91 and there are some terrific promises there.

We'll post updates on the blog or you can email us. Thanks for helping support the country through this courageous soldier.

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. Mike will say to the Lord, 'my Refuge and my Fortress, my God, in whom I trust'." Psalm 91.1,2

SPRING BREAK

This week the 13.5 inches of snow in NW Arkansas melted just in time for spring break.

The temps were still a bit nippy, but we persevered with a promised overnighter to take Nate to see the elk herd up at Boxley, Arkansas.

These pictures were made along the way as we saw some interesting rock outcroppings that needed exploring. Mike and Nate are pretending to be thirsty at the waterfall.

Nate is a fearless explorer.

We were in the north central part of our state in the Boston Mountains. That's high country where the White, the Mulberry, the Buffalo, the Kings, and the War Eagle rivers all get their start.

We arrived in the Boxley Valley in misting rain, so we had to use our "ba knock lee ers" from the back seat of the car.

This day, the elk were so far away they just look like a herd of cows; by March they have dropped their antlers.

The two white specks on the right are trumpeter swans. The tree line toward the back of the pasture drops off to the Buffalo River.

There are probably 200 elk who live in the valley at Boxley; perhaps 300 live in the outlying counties. Mike says nothing pens the elk at Boxley "in", but they stay. Perhaps they know of the "no hunting" status of the valley.

The elk are here in Arkansas as a result of a swap. We gave Colorado some fish, and Colorado (and Nebraska) trucked some elk to Arkansas. Between 1981-85, there were 112 elk released. The elk have done well here and the herd has grown. In fact, they are doing so well that in 1998, Game and Fish began to issue a few permits for hunters in the land beyond the valley.

These pictures were taken on a hiking trail called "Lost Valley Trail" in the Boxley valley where Mike and Nate hiked a mile in/a mile out. Notice Nate's walking stick. He used it to mark the 8' wide trail so they could find their way back out. Nate is always thinking about how things work...

Mike said everyone they met on the trail had a smile because of Nate's enthusiasm and oversized hat. They also befriended a really nice guy who was a wildlife photographer. He has a great website if you'd like to go there and see his beautiful pictures of the elk and wildflowers in this area.

http://arkansaswildlifephotography.com/index.html

Nate packed his own suitcase for this excursion and he was ready for any opportunity. He had Leggos, a DVD of "Wall-E", some assorted toys, two library books, some "getting dirty" clothes, and a big ziplock of asthma meds.

Unfortunately, Nate was not all that impressed with the elk. He would have been if it had been fall. Last fall Mike and I camped beside a field that had elk and right at bedtime and in the early morning, their bugling sound is impressive. But they only make that unique sound when the rut is on in the fall.

When we came in for the night, we gave Nate an early Easter basket with the new "Pistachio" DVD. That was fun to watch. And on the trip home, we stopped at a friend's farm and saw new baby calves.

When Papa asked him what his favorite thing was that we had done, he replied "going hunting!"

We love grandparenting.

INSURANCE WOES

I used to teach third grade; I only know what I have been told about the insurance business. Someone please tell me this is not correct.

BACKGROUND: the insurance industry is required by federal and state regulations to have a 65/35% split of their funds. Sixty-five percent is paid out to claims and thirty-five percent is divided between salaries, expenses, and the chunk of change that is required by law for them to have on hand in case of catastrophe. That means when the federal or state or industry regulators come checking, if the company has an imbalance in that percentage, they are ruled "unstable" and are punished or lose their license.

YESTERDAY: the President put the entire nation's insurance industry in an "unstable" condition when he signed his healthcare bill. That's because in a stoke of the pen, insurance pay out requirement went from 65% to 85%. That leaves them 15% to operate on. Can an industry operate on 15%?

FORWARD: if you were the insurance industry and you were loaded under a pile of new services that had been government mandated for you to provide...AND your purse for salaries/rent/and the catastrophe pot went down 20%...what would you do? Perhaps they could shut down offices and work at home. Or ask everyone to take a pay cut. But I bet they will raise their premiums. Then the insured will raise a rukus and the government will berate the industry. Eventually (I'm guessing) the government will ride in on a white horse. Voila! The government is left standing as the single payer.

Someone please tell me this ain't so.

THE MORNING AFTER

Well, it's done.

My voice of reason (that would be Mike) reminded me this morning..."Susan, there are some good things in this healthcare legislation."

Yes. There were things about healthcare that needed changing. Shame on us for not attending to business and tweaking these things before now. Our passivity has enabled the healthcare Trojan Horse to come through the gate.

As the Democrats continue their swagger, a dozen or more of our states are filing (or about to file) lawsuits to challenge this "noble" legislation. Why? Surely the reason is more than just "talk radio told them to". The White House can throw zillions of dollars around, but the states have to deal with real money.

So where do we go from here? If my family depended on the insurance industry for it's livelihood, I'd be trembling. And because the vilification of banks is being ratcheted up again, I am also glad that I'm not depending on a bank job. In fact, the only secure jobs (or "jobs created") are those in government. I've heard the IRS is hiring...

Wish I thought these new laws were worth what will happen to our country to get them. I wish I thought we will actually even GET the promises. Mike and I have friends with expensive medical conditions and older relatives with costly meds. The problems are real, but color me doubtful about the Obama plan. Time will tell.

Meantime, my frustration would make me pull out my thinning hair...except that I keep remembering Psalm 2...

MARCH MADNESS

Politics have always been an arm wrestle, but wasn't the endpoint in previous struggles "doing good for our country"? Now men wrestle openly for personal gain and power. When did we get so crass?

Whoever heard of voting blind on healthcare so you could know what was in it (as Nancy Pelosi said). Congress is also asked to vote blind because "Deem-ocrats" say when they finish tweaking, the bill will be just right. Vote on a promise? Madness.

How about this couple of mad twins: "your healthcare costs will go down with the new healthcare reform"...or..."the deficit will be reduced by the new healthcare reform". Those twins upsize chutzpah.

Our President seems to be talking out of both sides of his mouth. He says he is for a single payer option (when he speaks to one audience); he says the single payer option is not his plan (when he speaks to another audience). No wonder people are confused. More madness.

There is assurance after assurance that abortion will NOT be part of this healthcare package. But Mr. Obama has made his philosophy known when speaking to Planned Parenthood. Those thoughts plus his record of troubling abortion votes in the Illinois Senate and the United States Senate speak loudly.

Brett Baier interviewed the President recently. When asked about those sweet deals given in earlier bills (you know, the bribes to Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu) the President never really said whether they were included or had been struck. But he did say that if the deals WERE in there, they were needed to help people recover from the devastation of the hurricane, as well as the earthquake in Hawaii. (Hawaii? OK, so he meant Haiti.) Louisiana WAS devastated, but there were citizens of Mississippi who were hit by the same hurricane and were devastated as well. Was Mary Landrieu going to go next-door to help them with Louisiana money? A "stinky" shouldn't be covered by another "stinky".

The President's job is to run the country the best way he sees fit and be the spokesperson for his particular plan. But the plan...and the plea for the plan...should be for the COUNTRY'S good. Did you hear BHO's plea this week for his healthcare reform? He called in members of his own party to twist arms. (Why would you need to twist arms in your own party to vote for a worthy cause?) He told them he wanted their "yes" because it would "make his presidency". Really. We are down to that? Our country's best interests are not served by motives that stink to high heaven.

Speaking of high heaven, I heard someone say the other day that our country was founded on the belief that man's rights come from God. That would be in stark contrast to the belief that man's rights come from the government. Who said we have a RIGHT to healthcare? Is that a right that has ever been spoken about in the history books? What has happened to other governments who have tried to implement that lofty goal? That is a reasonable question.

I appreciate the line Senator Tom Cogburn drew in the sand yesterday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA0EOugizPY He is saying (my words): "man up! what is done in the dark will be brought into the light!" I believe that is a deterrent to corruption.

Now we go to a showdown on Sunday. Do not miss the irony that the vote comes on the Lord's Day. Will we poke God in the eye on His day?

"So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels." Psalm 81.12 KJV

"AMERICANA ON TWO LEGS"

Ralph Emery defines Johnny Cash pretty well in those four words. Is there anyone more red, white, and blue...than the man in black? Yet there was so much more to Johnny.

You may or may not like the cavernous baritone voice, but Johnny Cash songs touch raw emotion in audiences. His ballads connect as poetry set to rhythm. Since 1959, the man has sold over 53 million albums, and he had at least two hit singles a year on the Country music chart for 33 years running. Pretty impressive talent to come out of a dirt farm in Dyess, Arkansas.

Look at this precious face. How did he end up wearing black clothing? Most people would agree that the wardrobe schtick fits his maverick swim against the mainstream. J. R. Cash had a father-wound that left him an angry man in his early years. His life was full of contradictions:

a Bible scholar/an outlaw...

an unfaithful marriage partner/a faithful marriage partner...

a man full of pills and booze/a man clean and sober...

a writer of music that appealed to life outside authority/ a writer of music that appealed to life submitted to the ultimate Authority...

So who was the real Johnny Cash?

He was every man. One of his songs spoke of "the beast within me" to describe the internal battles that made his life hard. His earliest battle was with guilt when his brother Jack (left) died at age 14. Twelve-year-old John adored Jack and thought God took the wrong boy because Jack was "the good one".

In that battle and future addiction battles, all his wealth was of no use, except to enable. Surely there were times he desperately wished for the clock to be rolled back because of the people he had disappointed and hurt. He was a role model that needed a big "do-over". He knew to do right, but in the first half of his life he seemed powerless to live right. Ironically, his experiences birthed lyrics that gave others strength. He spoke up for the underdog and the overlooked. People loved the way he put words to what they felt.

Was he a contradiction? Yep. Johnny Cash was like sausage...a peppery blend.

This picture is Johnny with his first wife Vivian. She was 17 when they met. They dated 3 weeks before the Air Force sent him to Germany for 3 years. John returned and married Vivian a month later. Together they had four little girls.

John's son, John Carter Cash, was a co-producer for "Walk the Line", the movie that told his father's story. John Carter Cash says that his father began to really get serious about his faith about the time the movie's storyline ended. That would have been the late 60's...when Johnny gives June credit for helping him turn away from drugs and turn toward the Lord. They married in 1968.

So is this post-1968 Johnny Cash the real Johnny Cash? Was there a demonstrative change in his behavior? Do a fruit-check. He and June had a good marriage for 35 years. They ministered together, made millions, and gave away tons of money to the cause of Christ and to other projects near to Johnny's heart. They helped at Billy Graham crusades and John recorded CD's of gospel songs. He recorded a reading of the New Testament. He found peace with his father. In l986 he wrote a book about the apostle Paul entitled "The Man in White". He still struggled with drugs, but by all outward signs, Johnny Cash WAS the title of that book. But I would be a poor judge of another man's heart; the Lord is the only Righteous Judge.

It still is reasonable to think we could pull up a chair toward the end of Mr. Cash's life and listen as he sings of what he has learned. In the first of two videos (below), Johnny sings a song he did not write called "Hurt". See if you think it seems to fit Johnny Cash's life experience perfectly. (It helps to fit because that video has his life pictures behind the song.) The "Hurt" lyrics speak of his fame and trinkets as an "empire of dirt". The second link is to an audio written by Johnny Cash. Both videos were made just before his death, and they are heavy and real...a legacy to anyone who wants to avoid the Cash potholes.

When I first heard Johnny

sing "my sweetest friend" in

this first video, my first

thought was of June. But

on second thought, is that

who you think he is speaking

of?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o22eIJDtKho

And, this link is to what

I call Johnny's Easter song.

It is pure Johnny, pure faith.

http://www.youtube.com/watc

h?v=25EYTbrmgM8

God bless you, Johnny Cash.

"Compassion is our only hope, the compassion of you, the Master, our God, since in our rebellion we've forfeited our rights" Daniel 9.9 TM

"Jesus said...'I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even if he dies'." John 11.25 NET

AWAKENING

The sun sent a long-distance text to the earth yesterday. "Wake up!"

Mike and I were out in the yard, talking about landscaping projects and loving the warmth on our backs.

If you were outside yesterday, you might have sensed the text message, too.

We could smell the ground again.

Yellowjackets were slowly moving around and the wrens were singing for joy.

What looked like dead sticks on the bushes began to swell and make buds.

I began to feel that uncontrollable urge to stroll through a plant nursery.

Soon there will be vibrant colors everywhere.

The crabapple...

Japonica...

Forsythia...

And the poor old trees in Fayetteville that broke off during the ice storm of 2008...will cover their brokenness with lush green leaves.

Unpredictable spring weather will be part of the package, too. Mark Twain says in the spring he

has counted 136 different kinds of weather inside

"four and twenty" hours. That wildness seems like pushback against the transition.

The Almighty is faithful to bring the earth back to life every year. Spring is a picture book for us. It is His kind reminder of life's most important lesson...there is life after death.

Thank you, Lord, for Spring.

"And the one sitting on the throne said, 'Look, I am making all things new!' And then he said to me, 'Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.'" Revelation 21.5 NLT

POWER OF HUMOR

You can see our son Brad is coping well with his case of MPB (Male Pattern Baldness). Any psychological scarring seems to have been swept away by his dry wit. Brad has a fine-tuned funny bone. I love his humor!

On the 13th of this month, Brad will celebrate a birthday and his odometer rolls over to 34. This man's little red wagon is pretty full. He and Laura are expecting number three in July. I don't know any stats, but I'm guessing that the majority of households in Manhattan have less than five folks. Brad and Laura live in 750 square feet (on two levels), but that might have to change...

Laura was laughing about her husband the other day and told a story on him. See if you can picture this:

By day, Brad is a dentist in two hospitals, St. Luke and Roosevelt. Daily he walks nineteen blocks TO...and then nineteen blocks FROM work. This fall New York City had the heavy rains that we experienced down South. One morning when he got ready to leave for work AND IT WAS RAINING AGAIN...Dr. Cruse made a decision to walk to work in flip flops, a t-shirt, bathing trunks, and an umbrella. What a hoot.

Once at work he changes into scrubs anyway, but THAT day Brad was either intensely practical or totally innovative. Whichever, that's a picture that I choose to hold in my heart when I think of our son in fashionable New York City.

Minus eye contact, there may not have been five people who noticed.

"How beautiful...are the flip flops of those who bring good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!" Isaiah 52.7 NLT (amended)