The Cookie Monster

I traveled to Mena this week to help out with the aftermath of the tornado there, and my path led me to two churches: a Catholic church and a Baptist church. There was a one-stop help center set up in St. Agnes Catholic Church for people to come by for assistance, and the church was located in a heavily damaged and poor part of town. Miraculously the church suffered little damage even though the surrounding neighborhood was devastated. The metal cross on one of the steeples was bent, and it somehow was symbolic to what happens to people’s faith after something like this – it bends but does not break and when the dust clears it is still standing, albeit different.

Out of the Mouth of Babes

Well, I decided this week it is true that kids say the darndest things. Some of you know that phrase is a reference to one of the early kings of television, Art Linkletter, and his afternoon TV show called “House Party” which aired in the 50’s and 60’s. The first fifteen minutes of the show he interviewed some forgettable guests, but the last fifteen minutes he played the straight man as he interviewed four children ages 4 – 10, and often got the most outrageous answers to some very simply questions.

From Hero to Goat

I received a remarkable video this week by email about one Jason McElwain, a young man who managed his high school basketball team in Rochester New York. Now I understand that his story was on CBS news in 2006 and that it might be old news to you, but I had never heard it until I saw the YouTube video that was sent to me. You see Jason (Nicknamed J-Mac) is autistic, although technically he was labeled a “high functioning autistic, and was a special-ed student at Greece Athena High School in Rochester.