Tennessee State Line (Photo credit: J. Stephen Conn)

First, the lady I gave the $5 to last week for health care paid it back today. She looked happy.

It feels good not to owe anybody any debts. Christians are supposed to owe people a debt of love, but we get tired. We are human. Still, many try.

Jesus wondered if He’d find any faith when He returns to Earth. No wonder He wondered.

Today in Cleveland, there’s a prominent story, on the front page of the Cleveland Daily Banner, saying that a really rich man has donated a whole lot of money to Lee University, which is expanding property lines into “historic downtown Cleveland.”

But last night, at Lee University’s School of Religion, I went to a meeting in Room 247. The room was filled almost to capacity with people, mostly students, who are trying to help stop human trafficking in the Cleveland area, which is a corridor for sex trafficking because of its proximity to I-75, I-24, Nashville and Atlanta.

Dr. Daniela Augustine, a professor of Christian ethics at Lee, attended and helped lead the meeting, where around 30 to 35 people tried to find out what they could do to help stop human trafficking in this area. We were told, by a speaker from Second Life Chattanooga, that sexual slavery is right here in our own neighborhoods, or nearby. It’s horrible and hard to imagine.

But I remember those young people, in room 247 last night. They do not have huge sums of money to help them help others.

It looked to me like those young people are running on all heart, hearts as big as God‘s. That’s why I have to keep faith that God will help them (maybe us) pay that staggering debt of love, to help humans who have nobody else to help them.

Earlier today, on a car in the Lee library parking lot, I saw a bumper sticker that said, “Find Your Strong.“

Last night, I saw all those young people, finding their strong, off the front page.

Related articles

• Give the Gift that Brings Freedom, Love and Empowerment to Victims of Human Trafficking this Holiday Season (prweb.com)
• Human Trafficking in Canada (melanieerickson.wordpress.com)
• Trafficking ‘soft target’ warning (bbc.co.uk)
• Introducing. . . (love146tn.wordpress.com)
• Human Trafficking Forum (markconner.typepad.com)

Sunlight Feed (Photo credit: kennytyy)

It was my good fortune, in Cleveland, Tennessee just a short while ago, to walk by the Lee University soccer field, where the women’s soccer team practiced running, about half-way down the field, to the blue markers and back, then again.

Nearly every young woman had hair long enough to be pulled back into a ponytail, the sunshine bouncing off their clean pulled-back hair, like mirrors held out, reflecting.

The women formed a line, at the starting line, then each ran at her own pace. They ran fast, sprinting. I could hear them breathe while I sat in the stands. This was practice, so there were no distracting crowd sounds, so I could hear the runners breathe.

It’s a privilege isn’t it, to hear someone breathe? It’s the breath of life.

Those young women, so free and strong and living bright and trying to do so well. They breathed strong breaths, catching breaths, all at their own speeds, except two girls finished side-by-side, crossing that finish line for today. They all finished for the day, those sprints.

One young woman finished her sprints and was flat-out in the green grass, catching her breath. Her teammate, who was standing up, grabbed her friend’s hand and pulled her up. The whole team still stood at that line when I left their practice.

It was such a beautiful sight, seeing all those strong women, running free and clean and strong in the autumn air on the green grass, on a beautiful day that graced us all.

I haven’t forgotten about the people hurting because of the storm. But, for a few minutes, it was wonderful to see, that team of brave women, running, chasing sunlight, catching sunlight, giving sunlight back.

Have you ever seen something so beautiful it hurts? My chest hurt seeing that innocent scene on the soccer field. It was like a weight, the weight of glory, pressing down like you press wildflowers inside pages of books.

There are so many gifts from God, to be treasured and cherished and pressed to the heart, our weights of glory, which move us forward.

Related articles

• Sometimes a run can be…. (trimadnessblog.wordpress.com)
• 31 Days of Living by Faith, Day 31 – Running The Race (thedomesticfringe.com)
• Welcome Home (kaitlynes.wordpress.com)
• Running – don’t stop (improvisioner.wordpress.com)

English: The beach at Loch a’ Bhealaich. Far from the madding crowd – well worth the walk in. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today at the dangerous little intersection at Peerless and Georgetown roads in Cleveland, Tennessee, I wondered how we get these dangerous intersections that never seem to change. What in the world is going on?

Some of the local schools are over-crowded and nobody seems to know what to do about it here in Cleveland and Bradley County. An article this week in the Cleveland Daily Banner named the schools that are already over-capacity. But developers and planners keep planning and developing and building more apartments and businesses and so on and so forth, right into they think forever. Cleveland is crowded now.

Remember that movie “Far from the Madding Crowd” with Julie Christie? I just saw a scene or so, but the title tells the story. She lived away, far from the madding crowd.

If anything can drive you crazy, it’s a crowd. If you live in a crowded city, sometimes you just wish you had somewhere to go, a way to get away, to another place, maybe South Dakota or Maine or Alaska or Black Mountain, North Carolina.

Let’s go somewhere. It’s getting dark outside and time to go to another state of mind, up in a mountain cabin, with pine trees all around and crisp breezes and a pot-bellied stove with glowing embers and naturally, some homemade beef stew that’s been simmered until the meat is fork-tender and dripping with beef juices, with those vegetables like carrots and onions and the potatoes.

There’s a fireplace too, made of river rocks, with a chimney where smoke curls out into the clean black night air, free and unhurried, with stars everywhere, as far as you can see. Here, in this state of mind, we are without those intrusive city lights or city noises or city crowds. But we have lanterns and candles and hot water and we enjoy a few appliances, with just enough spare.

Nothing here dilutes or clouds the clear pure joy. Burning logs crackle and spit their happiness and you can feel the bright fire’s glow, trying so hard to say “All is well.”

There are rocking chairs too, and a sofa, with two or three soft warm blankets, in colors like Hunter green and burgundy and brown. Here, it’s okay to just stare at the fire, with a two-lane highway just below the mountain, with just enough traffic to offer comfort. Nobody’s in a hurry.

Just sitting here safe and cozy and happy, in front of that glowing fireplace state of mind, in that mountain cabin, far from the madding crowd.

Time to go for now. Thank you for listening again. Things feel better. One of my brothers heard a radio report the other day. They say when you want to get away from the walls, it means you’re getting better.

Related articles

• Books: Far from the madding crowd: The lure of a writers’ retreat in Wales (walesonline.co.uk)
• Natural Forms (tiggygreenwood.wordpress.com)
• Where ever you go, there you are (farawayinthesunshine.wordpress.com)
• Thomas Vinterberg to Direct Thomas Hardy Adaptation FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD; Carey Mulligan Wanted for the Lead Role (collider.com)

That was awful, the way I almost blew off my blog today. It hurts so much to be dismissed, to have the door closed in your face. So here we are, hopefully together again, for a few minutes of the day. Please forgive me for almost not writing for you today, like I usually do on weekdays, except Fridays. I’ll really try not to do that again.

It’s Wednesday and mid-week church night at some churches. Some of the church members had asked me to help stir and serve food tonight, which I did last week. But today the day got away from me, because I didn’t plan well and this and that happened and it was difficult. Haphazardly, I went from one place to another.

So, I almost wrote about something else, but decided to write about beauty on the back roads instead. Earlier today in Cleveland, Tennessee, when I was driving from one place to the next near the Lee University campus, I found such gloriously beautiful flowers in so many colors again, this time around Clemmer Street and Joy Street and Brown Stove Works and Carolina Avenue.

The weather is just about as perfect as it can be today, cool and breezy and colorful in pink, green, yellow and you should have seen those deep purple Morning Glories. lush on vines. Later, I learned these deep purple flowers are Star of Yelta Morning Glories, according to onalees.com, which sells home-grown seeds and plants. What a gorgeous color deep purple is, just begging people to look and feel something deep and affectionate and appreciative.

There’s quite a history behind the song “Deep Purple,” another song about lost love. There are probably many songs about finding love, too. Let’s go look for one of those love songs. Meanwhile, my hope is that you can accept my deepest apology. I shouldn’t have run off like that. You mean more to me than church. Please stay.

Related articles

• Interview with FrugalBeautiful.com on Frugal Lifestyle for Fashionable People (credit-land.com)
• Church renovation forces neighbor out of home (wtvr.com)
• The Road Less Traveled (rickholliday.wordpress.com)

URBAN-HUMAN-3 (Photo credit: Community Photography ‘now & then’)

Urban blight is the run-down area of any city, according to Answers.com. People don’t like to look at urban blight, with its run-down houses and iffy apartments and broken-down businesses and dirty-looking warehouses and sorry-looking people. We hope to develop the city out that way, not this way, not on that side of the tracks. Let’s not look at the other side of the tracks some say, but here the rest of us must dwell.

It happens here in Cleveland, Tennessee. Today I took my old car over to Roy‘s Alternator service on Inman Street, because that 1994 Volvo (the one my friend gave me out of mercy) needed help. Roy’s looks old and worn, but those people were skillful and gracious and fixed my car for a fair price, a price a family member was gracious enough to pay. Besides fixing the car, one mechanic fixed some of my worry. I’d been worried about that old Volvo, but that thoughtful mechanic told me just to keep oil and water in that car and it could last 400,000 miles or so. That gave me hope for the future. A newer car is not something people this side of urban blight can always afford.

That old car with its chipped paint and sad dents and missing parts looks like an urban eyesore, but it helps a person keep a little dignity and a little sense of freedom to at least have a car, even if it’s junky. Not everybody is so lucky, so let’s all give each other an urban break.

It was a good idea to check the water and oil, so I drove to Collins Oil Co. on South Lee Highway, one of the few places in the world that still offers to check the water and oil for customers. The man checked and the oil was okay, but the car needed water, which he poured right in and I gave him $3. Money must flow.

Then the tires needed checking because they are going low again. You know about it. I’m not good at puttin’ air in tires. More air gets out. Over in the parking lot near Pathway Press, I leaned against my old car and thought, where should I go to get somebody to put air in those tires (will I ever get it right?) Who knows? I just got in the car and started driving. I drove over two sets of railroad tracks, which scares me. Maybe they were the same tracks, from different angles. So much of the neighborhoods looked bad, with everything around me looking dirty and old and feeling sticky and miserable, out there in this muggy heat again.

But there it was, right out there in the urban blight, a tire center called Elliot’s. A woman came outside that old-looking building and you learn that wherever there’s a car, there’s some old dirt and tire dust and honest sweat from workin’ people. That gracious lady at Elliott’s heard my story because she listened. She didn’t look at me like I was stupid either. She heard how I cannot afford new tires right now, but I needed air and asked her how much. She said, “We don’t charge for air.” (Some do).

A strong man who’d been workin’ and sweatin’ all day came out and put air in those deflated tires and said, “There you go” real gentle-like. I couldn’t help myself, I gave him a little tip, what I could spare. He said “thank you” and guess where I’ll buy tires if I ever get the money.

Then over at Lee University, a young man stood outside with his cell phone. He encouraged me to get inside the library where it’s cool. He understood about this muggy miserable weather. Sometimes it’s good to stand amazed at the kindness of people. There’s urban blight everywhere, but look again. Right there is a ray of light, piercing the darkness.

Related articles

• Spruce Up Dull Alleys With This Rainbow Machine (theatlanticcities.com)
• Taking steps to rebuild neighborhoods (buffalorising.com)
• Vacant Lot Renewal Campaigns (fightphillyblight.wordpress.com)
• Volvo Concept You (motortrend.com)

Just last night I went to the grocery store and afterward picked up two scoops of Baskin-Robbins butter pecan ice cream in a cup.

I especially like the way Baskin-Robbins in Cleveland, Tennessee features twinkling tiny white lights in the outdoor patio area and greets customers with a bright neon purple “Celebrate” sign in clear view when you walk in. The place was exceptionally clean and friendly, too.

Not that I’ve tried that many scoops of butter pecan, but Baskin-Robbins butter pecan ice cream must be some of the best. The color is not the cream color I’ve seen in other butter pecans, but it’s a very light tan color with the dark brown toasted pecan bits throughout. The buttery taste stood out, especially when I crunched the toasted pecans. But there was a hint of something…maple, maybe?

Butter pecan is not really a weird ice cream flavor and, according to a USA Today article last summer, written by Bruce Horovitz, seven out of ten Americans buy strawberry, vanilla or chocolate ice cream. But, for the three who don’t, Baskin-Robbins of the famous 31 flavors has offered varieties like French Toast.

This month in the United States at Baskin-Robbins, there’s Tax Crunch flavor, full of chocolate and coffee flavors, along with Love Potion No. 31, a fruity vanilla flavor.

The hint of what I thought might be maple might really be brown sugar, which is featured in a butter pecan ice cream recipe at the Taste of Home website.

Information at About.com indicates that in America, the delightful mixture of cream, sugar, flavoring, all set to salty ice and churned, was served by presidents as well as by one of the most famous First Ladies, Dolley Madison, in 1832.

About.com also noted that in 1848, a woman named Nancy Johnson patented the first hand-crank ice cream freezer, which established the basic ice cream-making methods still used today.

The idea of ice cream, first in the minds of the wealthy and powerful like King Tang of Shang, China, eventually worked its way down and out to the tired huddled masses needing a little break and aren’t we glad?

Sometimes we just stand over the sink and eat ice cream right out of the carton, tryin’ to chill.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/may97/k7618-15i.jpg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For four days I craved apples.  Rarely have I wanted fresh fruit so much.  As often happens, deprivation increased desire.  Tart but sweet apples and juicy seedless grapes, red or white, filled my mind but not my stomach.

On the afternoon of the fourth day, I suddenly remembered the Mexican market right around the corner.

Inside the store, appealing energizing Mexican music played in the background while I spotted bright yellow Golden Delicious apples and also leathery-looking avocados that have that smooth buttery taste.

Before I went to the register to pay for two apples and one avocado I walked through the aisles of La Cabana,  Spanish for “hut,” a simple one-story shelter.  La Cabana’s Cleveland, Tennessee address is 325 Central Avenue NE.  The phone number is 423-614-3269.

All kinds of Mexican foods like tortillas and frijoles sat on the shelves and in the back I found a lime drink called Jarrito.

At the front of the store I saw Bimbo bread.  The word bimbo has negative meaning in some cases but if you’d like, go to http://www.bimbobakeriesusa.com for positive news about Bimbo.

Bread and other bakery items made and distributed by Bimbo include the brands many of us know like Boboli, Entenmann’s and Sara Lee.  But Bimbo also offers brands like Tia Rosa, the number one tortilla in Mexico.

Bimbo’s mission is to “nourish and delight.”  Besides feeding stomachs, Bimbo feeds souls by contributing to service and charitable organizations like Feeding America; the March of Dimes; Junior Achievement; the Special Olympics and more.

All this because of apples.  Fresh fruits and fresh vegetables nourish us, along with good bread.

Related articles

• Tortillas have emerged as the fastest growing bakery product in the US, According to New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. (prweb.com)
• Mrs Baird’s Enhances Wheat Bread Line with Antioxidants (prweb.com)
• Bimbo CEO Stops Through 2014 to Digest After Shopping Spree – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)

Monsooned Malabar (Photo credit: ritchielee)

Conversation hums all around. A barista moves briskly. Customers relax in a neighborhood blend of friends and flavors.

I’m at the recently-opened Lasaters Coffee & Tea (http://www.lasaterscoffee.com) in the Cleveland-Bradley County Public Library, Cleveland, Tennessee.

This shop shines. Think wood, black leather, low lighting. The aroma of coffee. See thick shiny cups fired in earth tones. Listen while tall thermal tumblers speak strawberry red and lime green, blazing blue and subtle silver.

Look up and see the French Press coffee contraption you know your daughter would love for Christmas. Think of her favorite color and say that one. Imagine your son warming his hands over a campfire after unpacking your exquisite gift of India Monsooned Malabar.

Consider your friend and yourself too. Ponder the small possibilities and sheer delights of caramel mocha; toasted marshmallow latte; gourmet hot chocolate; blended spice chai; custom fruit smoothies and iced white chocolate mocha. Or  maybe it’s black iced black tea or Rooibos with a roast beef and Provolone sandwich. Maybe the Southwest grilled chicken wrap or the turkey and Swiss rosemary bread panini.

A customer orders the turkey and Swiss, encouraging the baristo to include the buttery flavor when he grills the sandwich. With joy, that customer anticipates the melted marvel.

A man wearing Lasaters classic black slacks and shirt explains how refreshment and community often happen over a cup of coffee.  He turns to help another friend.  In shades of sunrise and sunset, shop lights glow.

Related articles

• Coffee Shops as Urban Social Hubs (theurbn.com)
• Happy Cup! French Pressed and Reviewed (secret-agent-josephine.com)
• Coffee Is The New Wine. Here’s How You Taste It (wnyc.org)
• Brew Coffee On-The-Go In A Travel Mug (psfk.com)