Spring Up

Adam asked me why I had the mower adjusted so high while I was mowing this weekend.

One of the things that my father taught me was that you need to raise the blades on the mower in the Spring, and then lower them in the Fall. ( Spring Up, Fall Down ) I later learned from my Purdue ( Agriculture School as well as an Engineering School ) Alumni Magazine that 72% of your lawn's Nitrogen needs can come from the clippings. I really try to convince my friends and neighbors that bagging grass is hard work and harmful to their lawn, but city folk just don't like to drag grass clippings into the house.



Another thing that I have been taught is that you never cut more than one third of your grass height off. As you can see from the picture, I've been working away from home and am rarely able to cut the grass and have completely violated this rule. You can also notice that this is the week that the Azalias are in bloom in Lexington. They don't last long here.

The Davinci Code

One of my favorite movies of all time is Apollo 13. It combines some truth with some drama, was produced well (Ron Howard) and had great talent (Tom Hanks) on the screen. For years and years while the kids were little it seemed that Jackie and I would choose to see a Tom Hanks film on our annual date.

1993 - Sleepless in Seattle
1994 - Forrest Gump
1995 - Apollo 13

1998 - You've got mail / Saving Private Ryan
2000 - Cast Away
2002 - Catch Me If You Can

Well, it's been a few years since Tom has done a movie with Ron Howard and this year ( next month, in fact ) , they will be together for the The Davinci Code and I'm excited about the works of art, the mystery and suspence, the quality of the film and the way that it will undoubtedly make my mind race. A friend at work recommended that I read this book a long time ago but I was going through several books by Lee Strobel at the time and chose not to take his recommendation.

Now that I see the general theme, I am extremely intrigued. When you look at the investment that Mel Gibson made to produce his life work in "The Passion" and know that many people were shocked and drawn to the life of Christ and His church, you can't help but wonder how many people will benefit from this intersection of Ron Howard and Tom Hanks.

I'm also beginning to believe that the church in America is starting to behave as Christ would in regard to this movie. Jesus Christ spent his time with sinners, poor and sick. He also rebuked the religious people of the day and abhorred the profit of men in association with His Bride and His Father's Name. In the last 30 years, there have been many Christian American organizations that would attack a film like "The Davinci Code" because of the fact that it mixes fiction with truth, but I haven't seen them attack yet.

I've been watching to see if some of those organizations would use this film as an opportunity to garner political or financial support and I haven't seen it yet. I have a friend that has been involved with an organization that is doing what I believe is the most intelligent thing to do, "Spreading truth to those with questions because of this move and therefore seeking truth"

Check it out: www.jesusanddavinci.com

Is Ron Howard a Christian? I don't know, I hope so.
Is Tom Hanks a Christian? I don't know, I hope so.

No matter what their motivation is, I expect this film to be exceptional. I nominate both of them for a "Roaring Lambs" award for converting this great book into a great movie that wets the world's appetite for Jesus.

More about "Roaring Lambs":
The Book ( by Bob Briner )
The CD ( Various Artists, who support Keith Green, Bob Briner )

Purdue Room Makeover Progress

Well, a few people have been asking about what Adam's room looks like after we converted it from "Kentucky Blue" to "Plywood and Purdue". It is still a work in progress but it Adam now has a lot more floor space after tucking the drums under the bed.

In the previous arrangement, the TV stand was in front of the window which was horrible for watching TV and looked really ugly from the street. Adam and I decided to put the TV up out of the way.

Jackie was initially pretty upset about how close Adam would be sleeping to the ceiling or maybe it was how far he was from the floor, but she's getting used to it now. The first thing she requested was a railing to keep him from falling out. I was hoping to stall long enough so that we could just cover up the 2x4's with some trim, but Adam has already moved the basketball goal up from the basement.

Take me out to the ball park

Today marked the last time that Adam will participate in the "Field of Dreams" ceremony as a Pirate. Most of the Pirates were thrilled to get their caps signed by as many members of the Lexington Legends as possible ( including Roger Clemens' son ). Adam is a little different, he had the bottom of his shoe signed by the Fazoli's Tomato.

As I snapped a picture just before the National Anthem, I noticed that Adam's feet were nearly as big as the Legends' catcher and that through the years, his height, hair and general appearance have changed relative to the Legends' catcher. His height is approaching theirs, and his hair is approaching the girls' length.

After talking with Jeff's dad before the game about pictures making time stand still, I decided to go back a few years of Pirate baseball. There were a lot of pictures that really will help us have some compassion on the a few of the 9 year old teams that we are playing this year.

In this 2003 picture of the pirates, you can see Daniel Preston in the back row. Daniel plays for the Braves this year and led off the 10 inning grueling game that tested the 2006 Pirates team. Daniel pitched very well and went through the top of our batting order quickly, not allowing a single hit. Chandler Morgan relieved Daniel in the third inning and pitched very well for the next six innings. Chandler started fall ball with the Pirates in 2002, so it was good to see him playing well.

Now, we're really going to go back a ways here to the 2002 Giants where Dan Hyatt (on the far left) was the assistant coach and you can see him watching Adam ( #2 ) run out with the Legend's catcher for Adam's first "Field of Dreams". I've always been a football player and fan, but I sure have enjoyed watching Adam grow up in the SouthEastern Lexington Baseball program.

Easter Dinner at Mattern's

Easter in Indiana at the Mattern's brought back some great memories for me.

The first memory was of Grandpa Bud barbequeing pork chops nearly every Sunday afternoon in the summer.

I can remember going over to Jackie's house and thinking that there wasn't any better way to fill my stomach than to eat one of Bud's pork chops. I've spent 25 years trying to recreate them and fail to do so.

Well, Bud has met his match on Sunday. Maybe its because I've lived in the big city of Lexington too long, maybe its because Bill knows meat because he has worked in a meat shop all his life, but Bill put out a spread of ham, ribs and prime rib that was fabulous.

The second memory was of Easter afternoon activities at my Grandma and Grandpa Eby's after everyone had filled themselves and taken naps. Sometimes we went mushroom hunting. Sometimes we went flying in Uncle Gene or Cousin Craig's Cessnas but it was always something exciting.

This year, Becca got to experience one of those exciting activities with her Cousin Dustin. Dustin bought a old John Deere last year and restored it. His father-in-law also found an old seed spreader that when equiped with a couple bails of hay, served very well for a Sunday afternoon ride for Heather, Becca and Maria. Uncle Bill even threw Louie on the wagon before it took off.

Family Pictures

One of my favorite activities at Grandma's house is studying the two dimensional snapshots that make time stand still during various stages of the Etsinger family life. As Bud and Ruby approach 80 years of age, they sure do have a lot of frozen in time memories.

What is even more enjoyable is the time that I can sit in their back room and listen to them recount those memories. I am always amazed at how sharp their memories are of those joyous, sad, funny and difficult times in their lives. I struggle to remember those things more than a year.


This weekend Ruby reminded me of how instrumental she was in convincing Jackie to like me over 25 years ago. I've heard the story before, but this weekend, I told Adam how instrumental his Grandma Ruby was in convincing me to like Jackie. She may not have known she was doing it, but she was. You see, I was convinced that Jackie would turn out to be like her mother. A mother that loved her God, loved her husband, loved her children through thick and through thin. She loved with time and she loved with sacrifice and she loved with hard work. Who could turn down a deal like that?

Well, there was one other thing. Ruby always dressed Jackie simply and wanted to make sure her daughter was always working on the farm. I got to watch my sweetheart grow up hard at work and I knew her as a friend before I noticed that she was nearly as beautiful on the outside as she was on the inside.

I wish I had a picture of her in her workclothes coming in from the pig barn.

Easter Egg Hunt at Etsinger's

We got to go to sunrise service at Union Center Church of the Brethren (Jackie's home church) this last Sunday with Grandma and Grandpa Etsinger.
After hearing a Romans 6 Sermon from Pastor Ruth, Jackie continued her religious dedication to an Easter Tradition for the kids (Egg Hunt).
The whole family enjoyed watching Becca gather eggs. Adam was coerced to gather eggs as well.

Grandma Ruby placed one quarter in some of 35 plastic eggs. There were also a few eggs filled with candy. Jackie and Carmen hid the eggs while I took Adam and Becca to Grandpa Sam's barn to check out Ben's pigs and the barn cats.

After the egg hunt, we packed up everyone (except for Carmen) and headed for Jackie's sisters house about three miles away.

It turns out that Carmen missed both cars that were heading in that direction while she napped on Grandma's couch.

Family Retreat, Ministering on the Hill

Rick Underhill introduced the idea of having a family retreat on the hill in a share time on Saturday evening.

His vision was to have twelve to fourteen families at various stages of life staying together on the hill. I think it is a great idea. Our own family experienced a great week with strangers of varying world views when we stayed at a guest ranch in Bandera, TX for our 2003 summer vacation. Jackie and I have never been on a family cruise, but I am sure that they offer the same variety of culture and people.

This weekend that Rick proposed would help reinforce God's way of rearing children with discipline, hard work, creativity, time and absolutes in scripture. Rick's main goal was to prove to his kids that he wasn't the only person in the world to think the way he does. Rick suggested several topics for study and we also agreed that there needed to be projects. Bob stated that driving nails is the best family activity on the hill in keeping the children busy and safe. I'm all for it.

On Sunday morning, Tony shared about the joy that he experienced watching his son play with three other boys all weekend. There were probably 50 men that hadn't a clue that this was really the first time that Matt had interacted socially with other boys. As Tony described the experiences of being away from home prior to this weekend, we all realized what a mighty work that Lord had done through a few Godly families and their young boys this weekend. There were very few fathers with a dry eye there this morning.

James Davis would be proud of the activity that was provide for those four young boys while the men were meeting. A family from Texas brought four marshmellow guns made of small diameter PVC that propelled what must have been several bags of colored marshmellows over the course of the weekend.

An American Hero

After a weekend devoted to men in history that were poor leaders and great leaders, we got to hear from an American Hero that added a personal perspective to a significant part of world history.

Bob's father was drafted in 1943 and learned Morse Code just in time to be trained as a voice radio operator at Normandy on June 6th, 1944 when he participated in the D-Day invasion and never stopped fearing his next breath would be his last until he was relieved on December 29th. During that time, he carried a body bag for himself and was trained never to help a fallen soldier (that was the medics' job bringing up the rear) and never to fear the sound of the bullets. The bullets approaching him didn't make a sound.

He learned the job of the voice radio operator through a series of mistakes and was trained remotely by other operators. It was interesting to learn earlier that Ham radio was the lure that pulled Bob to Vanderbilt's electrical engineering program. Hearing this story from Bob's hero explained a lot to me about why Bob has always called his father his hero.

He told us that he has relived the invasion in his mind every June 6th since that day. He recounted a few mistakes in direction from his leadership, a few misunderstandings of the French that saw his troops as heroes as they chased the Germans out of France. One French farmer cursed at the Germans for killing a cow that the American troop had unintentially hit. Another time the civilian people in Paris followed his troop for three days after being freed. In order to move forward without the people, the American army had to scare the French back toward Paris.

Just like his son, Bob's father viewed his earthly experiences as secondary to what he learned when he returned to Kentucky and learned the principle of the cross. Although he came to know the Lord at the age of 14, he didn't find his own identity until he well past the age of 30 or 40. It was encouraging for me to hear him "narrow down" and lump together the decade that I have just completed as if that was insignificant in the vapor we call life.

Thanks to Bob (and my pastor/teacher, Mike), it was fairly simple for me to gain the profound perspective of who I am in Christ in my early 20's.

Who knows what would have happened if thousands of men had not given their lives in World War II for our freedom to study the scriptures in our homes today. In no way do I want to dishonor their sacrifice, but it is trivial compared to the cross that enabled the sacrifice, service, obedience, good fight and sense of wonder within us.

It was the creativity of the largely uneducated Allied troops that overcame the poor direction of Germany's leadership and limitations of the German resources that ended that war.

Spring on the hill ( B.A.S.I.C )

Matt and I got a chance to take some pictures over the weekend. The top picture is in the old Manna house which is now exclusively a dinner hall. This freed up a great deal of time for us to move from dinner directly into the new hall (pictured below) for worship and teaching.

We also enjoyed several periods of free time to roam the farm appreciating the red buds, dogwoods and the new varieties of magnolias that seemed to fall from the sky over night.

The new dorm room that our youth helped build last summer housed us for both evenings. It was a wonderful place to sleep, fellowship and sharpen one another. Young Adam bonded well with several people. This back porch was one of Adam's favorite places.

The younger guys got a chance to play frisbee on Saturday afternoon in the open field. Us older men just took pictures. Duane was quite impressive with his roundhouse throws. Almost as good as Chuck Norris.

Restoring a Sense of Wonder

Friday night on the Hill was largely worship, but Bob introduced the topic of man's role of leadership to the group and our failures throughout history to be leaders.

I've been reading about 360 degree leadership which involves leading up, leading across and leading down. You can lead anyone at any level until you lead yourself well. This is very consistant with Bob's fundemental emphasis on knowing who you are in Christ before you attempt anything in life.

Here are a few of the notes I took on Friday night:

The Goal of a Teacher

• To make the simple profound
• To make the profound simple

Trust in man ( any man ) is futile, man is free to fail and he will.



Faith restores a sense of wonder that we need at every stage of life. As men, we need to steer and fan the faith that restores the sense of wonder in our children to the right amplitude, direction and purpose.

• From birth to age 3, children are amazed at what is beyond an open door
• From age 3 to 10, children are amazed by their ability to open a door
• From age 10 to 100, children wonder why the door is opened for them

What a privilege we have to watch our children progress through these stages only a few years behind us.

Hutchen's Hot Pig ( Benton, KY )

Western Kentucky is known for it's Barbeque and we experience some of it at Hutchen's Hot Pig. Matt and I had a pulled pig sandwich and a side of pigtails (known in other parts of our great country as "really greasy curly fries")Adam ordered a pork chop that was really good, but late, which caused us to sit longer in the smoke filled room listening to and watching God sing a severe thunderstorm to us. I am normally hyperly opposed to any hint of smoke, but in this part of the country, and certainly in this restaurant, it seemed fruitless to complain.

Adam wanted to go back on Saturday for his own Hot Pig sandwich, but Matt and I were still rather lethargic and opted for smaller snack in Murray.

Kentucky Dam ( Part of the TVA )

On the way to the Men's retreat in Hardin, we (Matt, Adam and I) stopped at the Kentucky Dam which is part of the Tennessee Valley Authorithy, one of FDR's largest projects in the New Deal.

Adam and Matt gravitated immediately toward the swirling water and the signs indicating Danger. Adam ran up the stairs after the trip down to the surface while Matt and I discussed Adam's heavy breathing after completing the ascent. We suggested that he run up and down a few times, but he was eager to get to Bob's.

Adam also swung from one of the original turbines that turned the great generators 60 years ago. During that time, I'm sure there were lots of jobs involved with monitoring water levels, energy levels, pressures and safety of all kinds for the employees. Today, I would imagine that most of the monitoring is done by computers remotely from another state.

Here's the text describing the turbine on one of those plaques from the self guided tour:
Imagine this 102-ton carbon-steel turbine spinning at 78.3 revolutions per minute. Picture more than 78,500 gallons of water per second rushing through the intake to spin its heavy blades, which generate 37 mega-watts of electricity. Measuring over 21 feet wide and nearly 12 feet tall, this adjustable-blade Kaplan propeller-type turbine, the first to be installed at the Kentucky Dam, began commercial operation in 1944. Although it's huge, it plays only a small role in TVA's balanced river system.