"Blessed TRINITY!"

     In a flash, forty years vanishes.
     Do you remember "the times of your life" as crooned by Paul Anka?
     The focus of memory today is Trinity United Methodist Church in the historic Evergreen district in mid-town Memphis-at the corner of Evergreen and Galloway, to be exact. The historic, Gothic building's design from over 100 years ago garners praise and accolades for its beauty because its architectural basics are the same as the Memphis Pink Palace.
     Multiple stained glass windows and gorgeous interiors speak to decades of loving use as it stands a landmark for the neighborhood. This building serves as the backdrop for five wonderful years of my life. David arrived and was baptized there. My ex-husband and I shared some of our very best married years there. The GSLS (Gulf Shores Literary Society) was founded within the New Beginnings Sunday School class at Trinity United Methodist Church. Oh, what dear friends and memories.
   

Trinity UMC - 1980s

     The decades evaporate in a split second and nostalgia catapults me into the choir loft with Mary Shoup at the pipe organ and Dr. Dave Hilliard in the pulpit. Memory is magic. It preserves everything at its most beautiful state, like a Doris Day glamour photo with its gauzy, misty haze that blurs the lines of reality. Buildings do not age, do not crumble or become stained with rain, tree-sap, and age. Nor do friends seated in their same pews, not aging one iota.
     I learned of the changes at Trinity when David notified me "something is different" as he drove past the buildings on Galloway. Friends from that era who are still active at Trinity filled in the gaps of the story.
     The congregation meets in the old Fellowship Hall across the street because the church determined it best to sell the massive stone relic to a Historic Preservation group to reduce the ever-climbing six-figure debt incurred when fewer and fewer young professionals and retired couples attempted upkeep and dove further and further into the abyss of debt. As my friend said, "We are serving God, meeting the needs of our community, and climbing gradually out of debt. We are not as concerned about upkeep on a deteriorating building as we are about meeting needs as Jesus taught."
     Memories are luxuries to be enjoyed for a moment as we stare into the eyes of today, of what is before us to live and serve and enjoy. The building does not a church make - the church is the people, of course. But, in this case, it is the trigger for a preponderance of precious memories. God is the Three-in-One, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is the Trinity in the lyrics of that majestic hymn Holy, Holy, Holy. A special memory-message to me remains as the God-Head Trinity first, and my beloved Trinity in remembrance. "... blessed Trinity."

I am no artist but I enjoy Bible Journaling

     Big Tatee (Frances Gordon Usrey), a great aunt, entertained me as a toddler with stories and drawings. Sometime before the artwork was completed, Big Tatee would dissolve in gales of laughter. I joined in.

     At Lila Newcomb's kindergarten, I colored a birthday cake solid black, much to my mother's concern. She thought I must have a dark psyche since other cakes had been colored in pastels with flower decorations. I explained to her that the cake was chocolate.

     Grade school teachers and my Public School Art professor confirmed my lack of artistic ability. No one was surprised when I changed my elementary education major after one semester.

     Ability, the lack thereof, has not kept me from attempts at artistic endeavors. I can see the beautiful end result in my imagination, but I can not make my arm, hand, and fingers cooperate.

Thus, I have surprised myself with how much I've enjoyed the "bible journaling" time that adds to my appreciation and love for special Scriptures. 

    A note-taking bible allows me to elaborate on biblical understandings in the margins, add sermon notes, and with encouragement from young women in my bible study, I've added some artistic flair. I've made notes, added comments, and drawings to illuminate many of my favorite verses.

Fake News is not New

     Living across the street from the public library as a young girl began my love of reading. Those blue, cloth-bound biographies I devoured. Mrs. Yawn, 7th grade English teacher, created reading day on each Friday...catch up on SRA, work ahead, or read. I read, uninterrupted, for a whole class period. Read many historical fiction stories You Were There at ——-, stories of children at historic American events. I relished the Wilders' adventures in their Little House.
    By reading all kinds of material, I learned to love romance as well as research. Reading is a part of me.
    Erik Lawson writes non-fiction. Isaac’s Storm was the first of his books that I read. It’s about the alarm that was raised by a single man who took his job seriously. The time period was early 1900s, decades before the creation of the National Weather Service. The storm/hurricane he warned a region about wiped out Galveston, Tx.
     More recently I read Devil in White City. It’s about a horrid series of events involving architects and others during the building of the White City that showcased Chicago’s World’s Fair. The origin of Ferris’ Wheel...who knew?
     Heavily researched and thoroughly documented, In the Garden of Beasts is slow to develop because of the thoroughness of the telling as it relates to Dodd and his grown daughter, Martha. The book chronicles US ambassador Dodd, a Jeffersonian Democrat and historian, along with his family, during their five years in Berlin, 1933 - 1938.
   It takes a few years and 2/3 of the book for Dodd to see and understand what was happening in Germany and in diplomatic language and fashion he crafted communiques to inform his superiors.

    I’ve always wondered how such atrocities against human beings could take place in a civilized society, in a beautiful country, (with the world watching) and this book lays it bare. ‘Oh, to be a horse in Hitler’s Germany,” where cruelty to animals was against the law while the unchecked underbelly of the German government lay waste, with cruel yet subtle laws, against anyone, any business, any art, music, science from non-Ayrian sources.
     Marlene Dietrich got out of Germany early as did Albert Einstein.

*Have you wondered if American officials knew about the “situation?’
*Do you think about politics, the economy, and how they interplay with foreign policy?
*What were diplomats throughout Europe and elected officials in America thinking as Hitler promised peace and prosperity, all the while violating the Treaty of Versailles that ended WWI?

Plenty of opportunity existed to stop Hitler's regime in the early stages of his massive military buildup. So, why didn’t they?

It’s not a book to be read in one sitting.
I borrowed it online in ebook format through Rector Public Library system.