“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to relive it.”—George Santayana

On May 9, 2007, with little attention from the snoozing media, George W. Bush issued a “presidential directive” that allows him to assume control of the federal government following a “catastrophic emergency.”

After Saigon fell to a North Vietnamese onslaught on April 29, 1975, Americans experienced a “Vietnam hangover” lasting until the electorate emerged from its grogginess to elect Ronald Reagan to the presidency in 1980.

Life is filled with unexpected interruptions and undesired events that may send us reeling. A few years ago, I was driving to a hospital in Atlanta when the cell phone rang. My secretary instructed me to pull over and, when she was certain that I was off the road, told me that she didn’t know how or why or what his condition was but that my son, a police officer, had been shot.

In a brightly lit washroom at Underground Atlanta, there is one lonely attendant, an old man, somewhat hunched over with age. When I saw him he was holding a fresh towel with one hand — a small broom and a dust pan on the end of a stick in the other. With eyes fixed on the ground directly in front of his tattered shoes, in his mind he was someplace else. It was Father’s Day.

On April 29, 2007, Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki made the baseball history books in a game against the Atlanta Braves.

One of the problems with the world – just one, mind you – is that people don’t do enough porch-sitting anymore. In fact, it is a trend these days to forego porches and settle for patios and decks.

George Gilbert said, “Marriage is a three ring circus: engagement ring, wedding ring and suffering!”

Milton Berle said, “Marriage is one of the few institutions that allow a man to do as his wife pleases.

Henny Youngman said, “The secret of a happy marriage is a secret.”

Or is it? We live in a day in which the American family is still plagued by the disappointment of divorce, yet one recent study revealed that the national per capita divorce rate has declined steadily since its peak in 1981 and is now at its lowest level since 1970. One reason? More couples are living together without the commitment of marriage. Another is an intentional effort to strengthen marriages and the determination to make marriages work.

(Editor’s note: this column was originally published in June 1979.)

There it is again, that uncalled-for glimpse of life in perspective. It must be the great plan of things that graduations and Father’s Day come close together, another milestone and that sense of awe in having been much bigger than my own life.

Like most people, I’ve had many more good days than bad. So why are the bad days so prevalent in my memory than the good ones? And why can’t I forget them?

There is a popular notion that ministers have emptied themselves of ambition and that they do what they do without regard or consideration for position or prestige. It is a myth.

Former senator and probable Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson brought Virginia Republicans to their feet last Saturday night in Richmond when he said the public no longer believes in politicians who promise to secure the U.S. border as part of a bipartisan immigration bill.

Rodney Crowell is a Grammy-award winning artist, the writer of hundreds of hit songs and the former son-in-law of Johnny Cash.

There should be some rule in nature that gives grandparents an extra boost of strength when their grandbabies are at their fastest. Instead, just at the time the little ones are adding speed to cunning, their seniors are being slowed by arthritis or some other geriatric malady.

A number of years ago, I left my home in northeastern Tennessee. I am, after all, a member of the clergy and one either goes where the churches are or one plants and pioneers a new church. In those days, I went where the opportunity presented itself which, in 1980, was in Colorado and, in 1983, to Georgia.

A person much smarter than me once said, “A man is not measured on how he starts things. He is measured on how he finishes them.”

We continue this week with the wonderful story on the Jack Thompson family written and submitted by Robin Parker of Warm Springs. This family was mentioned in a 1907 newspaper article in the Newnan paper, along with the Gables, the Kempsons and the Hutchinsons, as having a very large family and living within a mile of each other on the Coweta-Meriwether line. In this area, Line Creek flows from Fayette to Coweta into Meriwether, separating Coweta from Spalding and Meriwether from Pike. Just a little farther south, Line Creek flows into the Flint River. I have written about many families living in this area (and would love to hear more about them from you).

Somewhere in Heaven a mother is smiling.

We knew Abigail was graduating from college last weekend, but somehow we missed the fact that we were invited to attend.

There are consequences to losing a war, or being perceived not to have won. Israel’s ability to win wars has been based on its capacity to pound its many enemies into submission whenever they have dared attack. Depending on how you count them, Israel has been the target of at least four wars started by one or more of her neighbors, as well as numerous terrorist attacks. It had won all of them until 2006.

Claudette, having a new in-law/outlaw travail to report, called the other day.

Before she began her latest in the ongoing outlaw saga, she asked, as many of my friends often do when I answer the phone, “Whatta ya doin’?”

The ink had hardly dried on the paper last week when I received an e-mail from Robin Parker of Warm Springs who is descended from two of our Line Creek families. Her aunt who lives in Peachtree City had clipped out the column and sent it to her. Needless to say I was thrilled to hear from someone who could tell us a little more, and on a more personal level, about the lives of these people. Robin agreed to share some information on her families and will be writing most of the material for the columns for the next few weeks. Robin writes:

The operation to repair a torn tendon in my left arm was Day one. To be honest, I don’t really remember a lot about that day other than when I woke up, there was no pain.

We are saying, “Farewell,” to two dear friends on Sunday. When we began a new congregation in our living room in September 1996, David and Pat Jones and their family were vital components of what was to become Christ the King Church. For nearly 11 years, they have been faithful, giving, supportive, and hard-working members—the kind every pastor dreams of having.

Dixie Divas

Those who know me well will tell you that when it comes to decorating, I have a scant amount of natural talent.

I wish I could believe the president and those senators who claim their agreement on immigration legislation will "fix" the problems of open borders and illegal aliens. I can't, because the public has had no input into the measure; the last time Congress "fixed" the problem, it got worse; and it appears Democrats and Republicans care more about harvesting votes for their respective parties than doing what's best for their fellow citizens.

In this day and age of incredible technical advancements, it has become increasingly difficult to separate the real word from that of fantasy and fairytales. We watch movies made up entirely of actors generated by computers. Computer graphics are so powerful they actually have us believing that animals can talk, actors can fly through the air by swinging on spider webbing and gunshots wounds can heal in days with no long term disabilities.

I fell off the platform a few Sundays ago at church. Actually, we call that area where the altar, or communion table, resides, the “sanctuary.” So, technically speaking, I fell out of the sanctuary into the chancel.

There’s a whole lot of loneliness going on out there. Too many people are caught on the periphery of goodwill and compassion in a society where we feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and shepherd the orphans.

Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani picked the Friday before Mother’s Day to tell students at Houston Baptist University that while he “hates” abortion and finds it “morally wrong,” one must leave the ultimate decision to a pregnant woman. The young products of conception whose mothers chose to have them listened intently.

Couple of weeks ago, I wrote about encyclopedias and how outdated they seem today. I apologize for some confusion I wrote into that column. Striving for a tone of irony, I recounted how quickly (we thought) we could access information in the encyclopedias, cross-referencing and all, compared with the pre-encyclopedic days when we had to drive 10 miles to the nearest library.

I didn’t buy a Mother’s Day card this year. While most of the people I know were talking about the gifts they were getting for their moms, I kept uncharacteristically silent. It’s been over 10 years since Dad died and Mom followed him about six years later.