Jag kom hem från Salmon Arm, British Columbia på Mondag efter vistas med min brör och svägerska för en vecka. Det flyg var bra utan förseningar eller turbulens.

Jag hade mycka roligt med min släkt. Tony tillagade en stor mängd rökt lax en kväll och Jenny förberett en fantastisk potatissallad. Båda var de bästa jag någonsin har haft. Vi gick till en driving range, till en powow, till Revelstoke, och vi gjorde mycket shopping. Vi också spenderade tid i samhället på lokala butiker, på torget, och på restauranger. Mer än så dock, vi pratade, ibland fram till två på morgonen. Jag haft inte sett min brör för tio år även om vi naturligtvis har talat i telefon. Jag haft inte sett min kusin Greta för fyrtio år ock jag haft aldrig träffade sin make Gustav eller hennes son Tony. Det fanns mycket att ta igen.

Det var mycket trevligt att se min brorson och brorsdotter igen. De haft blir härliga ungdomar.

Jag ser fram emot att se dem alla snart igen…

Tony, Jenny, Greta, Gustav, från Finland.

Perry och Kathy.

Min brörsdotter Katrina med sin pojkvän Ryan.

Ryan, min brörson med Kathy, min svägerska och Katrina, min brörsdotter.

I came across this enews snippet announcing a new medieval manuscripts network.

”Researchers create vast virtual library of medieval manuscripts”

”Somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 rare and precious medieval manuscripts have been scanned over the past decade into formats that could be studied over the Internet.”

Definitely interesting for even casual readers.  Perusing the English manuscripts for example I came across 15th century recipes for wild game as well as cures and treatments for the plague.  In times like these one can never be sure when she might need both!

The network is the creation of researchers at UCLA!

Gail Renard was 16 when she heard that John Lennon was going to be staying over in Montreal.  She crashed his party with a friend via a fire escape at Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel.  Ringing the doorbell during a change of security, Yoko answered the door and let her in for an interview.

Gail stayed for the week of the famous bed in and the recording of ”Give Peace a Chance.” Lennon is recalled as speaking with Gail’s mother on the telephone and gaining her approval; every night Gail went to her own home and bed to sleep.  During the day she acted as Lennon’s liaison to the press, played with Kyoko Lennon in the nearby park, made arrangements for tambourines for the recording session, and hobnobbed with the celebs including Tommy Smothers, Timothy Leary, and Allan Ginsberg.

She felt secure in her surroundings and recalls how when an amorous member of the press attempted to kiss her, John intervened and chased him off.  Among the several mementos that he gave her was the song board to Give Peace a Chance which was recently, almost 40 years later, auctioned off at Christies for almost $850,000.  He’d told her, ”hang on to it, it will be worth something one day.”  They had originally guessed that the piece would fetch between 200 and 300,00 pounds.  Renard, an award winning radio and TV writer, commented, saying, ”It’s all monopoly money to me.”

Read an interview with Gail Renard here.Â

On the anniversary of the death of John Lennon, Yoko, his widow, continues to call for peace. She says, ”Every year, let’s make December 8th the day to ask for forgiveness from those who suffered the insufferable.” In the full page, New York Times add she also urges readers to take responsibility for failing to intervene on behalf of victims around the world.

’Know that the physical and mental abuse you have endured will have a lingering effect on our society,’ she writes in a portion of the letter directed to victims. ’Know that the burden is ours.’

The death of John Lennon rivaled the death of JFK in terms of worldwide impact. Many people recall specifically where they were when they heard the news of Lennon’s murder. Do you remember? I remember that I was riding in a car with friends, driving from Edmonton Alberta to a Bible College in Camrose, Alberta. The news stunned us all. How tragic that man who appealed to the nations to ”Give Peace a Chance,” was so skeptical of Jesus Christ, whom the Bible calls the Prince of Peace.

Useful Link: The John Lennon Museum

Official Link: John Lennon . com

On November 19th, 1969 a second Apollo mission landed a manned spacecraft on the moon’s surface. The BBC offers a commemorative article about the mission. Click Here

I attended Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary between 1988 and 1990. Adrian Rogers spoke at our school. I admired the man then and have appreciated his ministry over the years. News of his passing was widely carried by both church and secular presses alike today. The Wall Street Journal carried the AP article:

”MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Rev. Adrian Rogers, a three-time president of the Southern Baptist Convention and leader of a conservative takeover of the faith, died early Tuesday in Memphis. He was 74 years of age.

His death was announced by Baptist Press News and by Rev. Rogers’s Love Worth Finding ministry. Officials of the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment.

Rev. Rogers was hospitalized earlier this month with pneumonia and cancer, his ministry’s Web site said.

Rev. Rogers was elected president in 1979 as part of the conservative takeover of the convention, the nation’s largest Protestant church. His election turned out to a be a watershed moment for the denomination, and the 16-million-member group shifted dramatically to the right politically and theologically. In the years that followed, conservative leaders pushed hard against abortion rights, homosexuality and women pastors.

Rev. Rogers also was elected president of the SBC in 1986 and 1987. He was pastor of the 28,000-member Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis for 32 years, retiring this past March.

”There’s no one in this country I respect more than Adrian Rogers,” Focus on the Family’s James Dobson said on Rogers’s last day as pastor. ”You draw me to Christ. When I’m with you, I feel closer to the Lord.”

Among those who attended Rev. Rogers’s final sermon were Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.) and Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D., Tenn.).

During his career, Rev. Rogers conducted religious crusades in Taiwan, South Korea, Israel, Russia, Romania, and in Central and South America.

In 2003 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the National Religious Broadcasters.”

Copyright � 2005 Associated Press

Christianity Today offers a more comprehenesive article. You can access it here…

The Baptist Press features an article entitled ”In his final days, Adrian Rogers told those gathered around him, ’I am at perfect peace’ ” Click Here for access

James Draper offers a moving eulogy, also at Baptist Press — Click Here