Ernie is raising money and awareness for the LTS Memorial, a refurbished Landing Tank Ship from WWII like the one Ernie served on during the war.  His ultimate goal was to try to raise funds to send the ship to the 75th anniversary of D-Day, however, he has not been able to raise what he had hoped.  His run has become inspiring for other reasons, however, as people have learned about his story and gotten to know more about him.

 

The Rev. Tom Purdy, of Christ Church, Frederica, is helping organize the celebrations for Ernie when he completes his run, which is expected to draw participation from around the country.  You can follow Ernie's journey by finding him on Facebook: Ernest Andrus, or by visiting his website:  coast2coastruns.com.  Ernie is running through Quitman as of Tuesday, June 21, and will gradually make his way towards St. Simons.  Feel free to follow his journey and run/walk a leg with him!  You can read an article Fr. Purdy wrote about Ernie for a local magazine here: http://www.elegantislandliving.net/ernie-s-journey/ 

Nine days ago, I cried in the darkness of the early morning of Sunday, June 12:  "Oh Lord, our God:  'Our times are in your hands':  So why could it not have been just another theme park ride that got stuck in Orlando?  Could you not have let it be so, and then have everybody on board get lifted out and delivered to their loved ones by a cherry picker?"

My self-created prayers before dawn are never very good. That is why I need the Church to be a sort of plumb line so that, with the Holy Spirit,  I might construct a level staircase of spirituality for a successful ascension to God. Without such a staircase, I cannot climb above the morass of feelings I have, and get within hearing range of God's still, small voice. And what good is prayer without that?  Not much.  But that is how conversation with God begins-with angry cries to the One who seems to be  nowhere!  Such was the case in the small hours when forty-nine innocent, and much loved souls, were dead at the hand of yet another deranged shooter.  And, of course, as we all know, the night of terror ended with the shooter being killed in a final gun battle. He got what he thought he wanted. I got what I know I did not want-feelings of emptiness and despair.

There are moments  in every Christian's life that hit  us on the blind-side, and when that happens, mixed feelings of grief, sorrow, sadness, and anger erupt like volcanoes. That happens when accepted  beliefs collide with the realities of events in the course of time's passage in our human experience.  And things like that will happen in a place like this planet earth, our "island home" of seven billion people.  Bad events defy understanding even as we are aware that we are both passengers and the crew of a tiny speck in a universe that, despite the efforts of brilliant science, is still mostly dark and mysterious.