I love the woods. I have been enjoying Campus Woods @ Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale for 45 years. Today I drank in the splendor of Giant City State Park. Giant City is only a few miles from my home. When I am in the woods…I feel close to God. The splendor of his creation envelopes me. I think that if I ever see my Guardian Angel…I will see her/him in the woods.

I wonder if we do not tend to live too much in the artificial. Television and movies and Netflix and Amazon Prime and Hulu. The political pundits that we agree with are on our radios and TVs and we identify with their heated rhetoric and hidden agendas…that usually involve how much money that they can glean from us. Do we forget that we are Dust to Dust…and we came from the earth and to the earth, we will all return? Yesterday Pastor Kerry likened the Christian walk more to a riding lawnmower than a motorcycle through a humorous anecdote. Are we content in puttering along on our riding lawnmower…or do we want to take Christianity out on our motorcycle and see what the ‘Old Girl’ can do?

Little Egypt is a group of small towns and villages…and hamlets…that comprise Southern Illinois. Riches and economic prosperity have not been widely known in our region of the nation. I have traversed the towns and villages of my home place. Sweet honest and faithful people abound. We wait for the hope of the Gospel. We wait for Christ’s words to take root in the hearts of mankind. I used to tell my friend, Brent, who was also my supervisor at SIUC…that all of us native Southern Illinoisans learned to make our entertainment without the aid of monetary resources. I remember playing with sticks that I found in my yard. I recall catching Lightning Bugs in a jar. I played and rode my bicycle until dark and then went into the house to listen to the Joey Bishop Show from my little bedroom. Regis Philbin was Joey’s Co-host. We waited patiently for someone in power…who was interested in us…

Jesus’ love was the answer. Not his wrath…his love. Quartet Gospel Music was a solace. The Statesman Quartet and the Blackwood Brothers spoke to our hearts. When we listen to Gospel Music…we knew that God loved the Poor Of The Earth. When Big Chief of the Statesman Quartet sang… his resonate with Base voice…we understood that God had not forgotten we former Coal Miners and Farmers of Little Egypt.