Happy Birthday, Matthew!

A precious boy just turned nine. As is my tradition (that I got from my Mom) I asked this boy how it felt to be nine. Rather than the standard answer, "Just the same as eight felt yesterday," he had another response. He didn't actually answer the question.

He said, "I just had my first fart as a nine year-old."

I said, "Well.......how did it feel?"

"Great!" was his reply...

I will share this with his girlfriend someday.

Enough said.

December 2007 with my family....

www.rickandbubba.com

I have listened to Rick and Bubba for 10 years now. It is amazing the spiritual maturity that has taken place in their lives during that time. They have always been very open about their lives on that show and as their faith has grown they have become more and more outspoken about their relationships with God. As much as I like Christian radio, I enjoy their program more because they keep things so "real" and do not sugar coat their lives. I am quite certain that they have impacted countless people for Christ over the years through their program. I think this tragedy, however, is something that satan meant for evil but that God is turning it around for good (as He always does) and causing numerous people to evaluate their own relationship with Christ. The message was not only a challenge to non-believers, but maybe even more a challenge to those of us who tend to become "lukewarm" in our faith. And we know what God said in Revelations 3 about lukewarm believers.

Listen to Rick's challenging and inspirational message here.

The faith of a hurting family

Quotes from Rick Burgess regarding the death of his precious two year old son, Bronner.

Satan made a huge mistake attacking my family. He miscalculated greatly.

So many lives have already been changed because of the appointment God had with him.

The biggest injustice you can do to my son, to my family, to God, is to leave here unchanged.

Bronner is in the care of the only Father who loves him more than me, the Father who he really belongs to.

Satan you have kicked up a can of worms

The fight is on.

Bronner Burgess

From Rick and Bubba...

"We ask that you bathe Rick, Sherri, and the entire Burgess family in prayer as they deal with the loss of their youngest son, Bronner Burgess. We all are grieving together in this terrible loss. The Burgess's want to give all Honor and Glory to GOD for the many blessings He has given us, especially the life of Bronner Burgess. And while we do not understand, we know who is in charge and His will be done in life and in death."

Sad news from Rick and Bubba

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PRAY!

On January 19, 2008, Bronner (Cornbread) Burgess, the two-year-old son of Rick Burgess drowned, according to the Shelby County Sheriff's Department. Bronner Burgess loss is a tragedy that no one should suffer.

Shelby County deputies and North Shelby Fire and Emergency Medical personnel responded to a house in Indian Springs Village around 7:30 p.m. and discovered William Bronner Burgess had fallen into a pool.

Exhaustive medical efforts were unsuccessful to save Bronner Burgess' life and the child was pronounced dead at Children's Hospital in Birmingham, according to the sheriff's department.

Bronner Burgess was the son of the radio personality Rick Burgess, co-host of The Rick and Bubba Show (www.rickandbubba.com). Sadly, the Burgess junior had died , announced a message on the show's website. The cause of 2-year-old Bronner Burgess' death was not elaborated in the announcement:

We ask that you bathe Rick, Sherri, and the entire Burgess family in prayer as they deal with the loss of their youngest son, Bronner Burgess.

We all are grieving together in this terrible loss.

The Burgess's want to give all Honor and Glory to GOD for the many blessings He has given us, especially the life of Bronner Burgess. And while we do not understand, we know who is in charge and His will be done in life and in death.

At the current time, the arrangements and specifics are unknown. As more information becomes available, we will pass them along. To send your condolences to the family, please send those to prayers@rickandbubba.com.

May God bless Bronner Burgess and give patience to his parents and family members. This is very sad and our hearts are broken to hear and report this news.

About 300 children under the age of 5 drown each year in U.S. swimming pools. At the time of such incidents, most victims were being supervised by one or both parents. Nearly 70 percent of the children were not expected to be near the pool when they were found in the water, read the report from Mayo Clinic.

Clanton's Peach water tower sunset

Last night on my way home from Montgomery I stopped and took these photos of the sunset at the peach water tower in Clanton. It was built in 1992 by the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company. It is 120 feet high and holds over 500,00 gallons of water. The tank was built upon 114.7 yards of concrete with 11,550 pounds of steel. The weight of the tank without the water is 349,000 pounds and when water is added, the weight adds another 4,186,000 pounds to the structure. The tank is built to withstand 100 MPH winds. It is located at 7th St. South, Clanton, AL, just off Exit 212 (Highway 145) off I-65.

Catching up from the holdays and such...

I've had a busy but fun holiday. I had the boys from Wednesday December 19- Christmas Day. My sister flew down and arrived on Sunday the 23rd and stayed until December 30th. The boys had several "Christmases" in terms of gifts. I let them open gifts a few days before Christmas and then they got to open presents at my parent's house on Christmas Eve. Of course they did the same with their Mom's family the week after Christmas. As always my Mom made a great Christmas dinner. My sister continued her interviewing of my Dad to learn more about our family history.

I watched the Patriots game to see them become the first team in NFL history to go 16-0 in the regular season but I did watch a little Penn State and Paterno win yet another bowl game.
Of course I enjoyed the Crimson Tide's victory over Colorado in the Independence Bowl. I watched the first half with my Dad and the second half with my Mom. My Dad decided to go to bed at halftime and he said that if Colorado came back and won he wouldn't want to see that anyway. It almost happened. Bama had a 27-0 lead early in the second quarter hand had to hold on to win 30-24.

On New Year's Day I unexpectedly got the chance to get the boys and we went to the theater to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks, which was cute.

Thursday we had basketball practice. While the youngest two practiced, I defeated my 14 year old and his friend for the umpteenth time in a game of "21" by a score of 21-4-0. or something like that. Then David and I played against his friend and his friend's dad. We should have won because we were blowing them out but we lost our intensity and let them come back and beat us by one point. We had Dominoes Pizza that night. They talked me into getting the large Brooklyn style rather than the 3 mediums for $15. We should have gotten the three mediums because one large just isn't enough for the four of us.

We had a good weekend this weekend. Friday night we went to Tuscaloosa and watched the Tide defeat Chicago State 93-79. The best part was that David got to shoot free throws at halftime in a contest to win an Xbox 360. He did really well against a boy who was probably a coaches son or something because he was helping the team. They tied after the first round and were really tied after the second round. But the other boy shot one about 5 seconds after time was up and they awarded the prize to him because the teams had to get back on the court. I was more nervous than David. he said that he was "a little" nervous. It was so cool to hear Bama announcer Tony Giles calling my son's name out over the PA system. I regret that I forgot to save the game on my DVR because he might have been on TV. They competed during a time out about half way through the second half of the game.

On the way home I told Matt that he could choose somewhere for his birthday dinner. Of course he chose the Cracker Barrel. We stopped at the one on Academy Drive in Bessemer. While David and Matt went to the restroom I asked the waitress (who happened to be a cousin of Demetrius Jemison, one of Alabama's basketball players) if they could sing for Matt's birthday. She said most of their singers were gone but she would try to work out something. Little did I know that Matt overheard the conversation as he hid behind the partition on his way back from the bathroom. We were 'wowed' by what happened next. A young man with one of the best voices I have ever heard came out and sang happy birthday to Matt acapella. It was so cool! After he left I told the boys he should try out for American idol because he could easily be the next Reuben Studdard. Lo and behold our waitress came back and told us to look for him in a few weeks on American idol. His name is Walter Blair.

Yesterday we had basketball games all afternoon. Matt's team won their first game of the season so I took him to Dairy Queen for a banana split. Joe's team lost both games again but we celebrated anyway by eating chocolate chip cookies and watching "Facing the Giants". I love the inspiration that movie provides, especially from a Christian point of view. We will praise Him when we lose and we will praise him when we win. Lots of good lessons in that movie.

"Things Left Unsaid"

...by Disciple:

Just a matter of time a few days ago,

I saw you you were fineRemembering what you said

About the book you read

The one I got you the begining of the end

Oh how we talked, for hours upon end

What I would give just to do it again

Your lying there in this hospital bed

Wont you open your eyes

And lets talk once again.

If you fly away tonight, I wanna tell you that I love.

I hope that you can hear me, I hope that you can feel me.

If you fly away tonight,

I wanna tell you that Im sorry,

That I never told you

When we were face to face.

Well Ive been here all night

And Im watching you

Breathe in and Breathe out

Is it really you or just a machine

Thats giving you life and

Making it seem that there could be hope

I could say it to your face?

If it werent for you then

There would be no grace

Thats covered my life.

You took the time to speak into my mind

And my harsh words were lies

If you fly away tonight

I wanna tell you that I love you
I hope that you can hear me

I hope that you can feel me

If you fly away tonight

I wanna tell you that

Im sorry

That I never told you

When we were face to face