I spent the weekend in The Big City with a group
of ladies from the church. We ate and shopped and
talked late at night, but the highlight of the trip
was a visit to The Muny to see Oklahoma. 'Twas a
grand time.

But grander still was a night on the town in Mayberry
last night. We went to a BBQ for a local candidate
and then to Billy, Tyler and Kent's softball game.
Instead of being lost in a sea of anonymity as we
were in The Big City we were surrounded by people
we know. And we don't just know them, we know how
they fit into the fabric of Mayberry, we know who they
are connected to, and we know our own place in the
scheme of things.

And grandest of all was stepping out of the car last
night after arriving home from the night on the town
in Mayberry. It is very dark at our place, there are
no street lights. The humid heat of the night enveloped
me. The waxing moon is never the cold, proud lady that
the waning moon is. She is friendly and helpful to
the late night traveler. We were surrounded by a
cacophony of frogs. Lighter and shriller are the ones
in the small pond by the house and deep and terrifying
loud the ones in the big pond at the back of the field.

Ecclesiates 12:1
Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth,
Before the difficult days come,
And the years draw near when you say,
"I have no pleasure in them":
While the sun and the light,
The moon and the stars,
Are not darkened,
And the clouds do not return after the rain;