It's not like He's a tame Lion ...

I can hardly wait for December 9th! That's when Disney is going to release the first of the Chronicles of Narnia The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

This is the perfect time for these stories to come to life. With the C-G animation and the power of Disney behind it, not to mention Andrew Adamson, the director of such hits as Shrek 2, Toys, and Batman and Robin at the helm, this promises to be one for the collection.

I just perused Disney's website for the movie and the website looks like it's as much of an adventure as the books!

This is especially poignant for me because Cornelia and I read the entire Chronicles of Narnia series last year. And I think other than this first one, my favorite was The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The reviews I have read of this movie say it is every bit as beautiful as The Lord of the Rings trilogy (and both were shot in New Zealand, so expect more breathtaking shots of the Kiwi nation).

The article I read (in the November 7th Edition of "Newsweek") also said this movie is faithful to the book without being preachy, and the movie has war but no gore. Apparently the Disney folks knew that there would be plenty of curious children at this flick.

But I am chomping at the Bit waiting for this one. I will probably see it three or four times. I hope they do the whole series!

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Image: Chronicles of Narnia Poster. n. p. Online:http://adisney.go.com/disneypictures/narnia/index.html[16 November 2005]

I Found You!

I did something today that I had wanted to do for a long time. I looked up my paternal grandfather, John William Walter Byrd. This crest is not the one we had on the wall when I was a kid, and I am not sure if the good folks at allfamilycrests.com know about the one we have.

Actually I have seen a several crests that bear the surname "Byrd" and this is one of them. There are also several mottos attached to them. One of the mottoes is "Cruce Spes Mea" or "My Hope is in the cross." That happens to be on this crest, which I found at houseofnames.com but again this is not the one that our family had. The one we had was closer to the one at the top of the page. And our motto reads "Nulla Pallescera Culpa" which I once learned translated into "Never Pale at Any Crime."

Then I found this intimidating looking thing from heraldry.ws ,which is also listed as the Byrd crest from Northamptonshire in England and I thought was quite sinister looking. But I must admit it would be a badass thing to have on your armor or shield when you were on the battlefield. I couldn't find the motto for it.

But all this heraldry and pomp must belong to another branch of the family because my grandfather was poor. I found him -- and my grandmother -- in the 1930 census at the National Archives in Washington. They are listed in Patterson Township, in Durham County. There are several things this one piece of microfilm told me:

• My Grandfather was born around 1900 (really 1898) and was listed as 30 years old when the census was taken. He was actually 32, but the census taker did not list his actual birthdate. From the records in Durham County, he died in March of 1974, and lived to be 76 years old.
• He married early -- he was 23 and my grandmother was only 16 when they married.
• My grandfather could not read or write by the time he was 30 years old.
• He rented their house on a farm in Durham County;
• He worked in a cotton mill as a laborer and was employed the day before the census was taken in April of 1930. (I thought that was impressive, at least a little because he did have a job. There were some folks in 1930 that did not, with the Depression just starting a few months before).
• He had two sons -- William Aubrey (my uncle) who was 6 at the time, and "Bobbie R." -- my dad -- who was listed at 3 months old.

I looked up John W. Byrd in the Durham County records and found that he is buried in Maplewood Cemetery located in Durham on Maplewood Avenue and bounded by Kent Street, Chapel Hill Road, and University Drive. Ironically he is not far from Duke University's Wallace Wade Football Stadium and Cameron Indoor Stadium. You basketball fans have surely heard of that. Both my parents and my elder brother attended Duke, but my grandfather never went to college.

My uncle, William Aubrey Byrd, is buried in the same cemetery along with my grandparents. He died in 1985 at age 61. My dad? He's scattered over the Atlantic Ocean -- he was cremated after he died in August of 1995.

I also learned a few things about Willie Mae Byrd, my paternal grandmother. She was born in South Carolina, not North Carolina, in 1906. She died September 22, 1938 -- she was only 32 years old. My dad had talked about her dying of breast cancer, but I am not sure. One thing I do know: my dad lost his mother when he was eight years old. That must have had a devastating effect on him.

I know my grandfather remarried; her name was Nancy Jacobs and she worked in the cotton mill in Durham catching bobbins. That's what destroyed her fingers. She lived to be in her 90s, I think, but my grandfather died in 1974. I never met him.

So why compose this post? Why should the public care about my search for granddaddy John? Because my dad hated him, and I never knew the truth about him. I know he abandoned Nancy Jacobs (and the rest of the family) when my dad was in junior high school or high school, but I don't know much more than that. So I wanted to find out where I came from. I know which family motto fits me now: Because I am a Christian My hope is in the Cross. I have a new family, a new lineage -- that of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the Lord Jesus Christ. But I was still curious about the old one.

Who's in charge?

Men did not recognise the craftsman while paying heed to his works; but they supposed that either fire or wind or swift air, or the circle of the stars or turbulent water, or the luminaries of heaver were the gods that rule the world. If through delight in the beauty of these things men assumed them to be gods, let them know how much better than these is their Lord, for the author of beauty created them. And if men were amazed at their power and working, let them perceive from them how much more powerful is the one who formed them. For from the greatness and beauty of created things come a corresponding perception of their Creator.Wisdom 13, 1-5

This is another of the waterfalls Cornelia and I saw recently on our trip to western North Carolina. This one happens to be on my mother-in-law's property, even though the family whose house sits next to it has named it something else, the water, and the waterfall, are actually not on their property.

But so what? They have built a lovely deck and stairs and all kinds of stuff to enable them (and presumably their guests) to see this waterfall. My mother in law made a joke that if the neighbors gave her any grief about us visiting the waterfall, maybe she could build a wall to block it from their view.

Everybody knew it was a joke. But it stirred my thinking. Though she possesses the property right now, there will come a day when she is no longer here. And who will own it then? (Ostensibly her children will, but that's not the point) . The waterfall was there before she was born, before anyone reading this was born, and it will be there (I hope) after we are gone.

So it puts things in perspective -- a perspective which is sorely lacking inside the Beltway. We don't own anything. All of it belongs to God, and He has the final say over it. That's humbling.

I have been to the beach, and I have been on a ship in the middle of the ocean, and both places have made me feel small. But God is Sovereign over all of it. Even though it might not appear that everything is acting as He intended, He still is in charge.

It reminded me of God's dialogue with Job. God never explains why He did (or more accurately allowed) the things that happened to Job. He simply appeals to the creation and asks Job "where were you?" So looking at this waterfall or the ocean reminded me of how much we are really dependent on what some call the "general grace" of God.

But the neat thing is that the One who controls the sun, the moon, the stars, the oceans -- and the waterfalls -- is kindly disposed towards us. He is so in love with us that He became one of us and not only "walked a mile in our shoes" but also died the death that we deserved in order that we might live the Life that He intended.

Water, Water everywhere . . .

This is another waterfall from our recent trip, and this one happens to be on my mother-in-law's property. At least half of it is. The border between her land and the people from whose porch I took this photo runs right through the middle of the creek. Her house sits on 25 acres near the top of a mountain and this particular waterfall is fed by a mountain spring.

I told her "Whatever you do, do NOT sell this property!" Granted, it is hers to sell if she wants to, but already at the bottom of her mountain I could see the property's eventual fate if she did sell it: People are building mini-McMansions lower down the hill (and higher up). The developers would probably divide her parcel into 1/2 acre plots and put as many of these ugly boxes on them as they could. And that would be truly sad.

I found it ironic that people who build a mountain home (or purchase one) to get away from noise, hurry, and crowds, eventually -- unless they buy all they can to insulate themselves -- find themselves surrounded by other people who have come to escape the muchness, manyness, noise, hurry, and crowds. Doesn't that suck!

And lest you think that I am exaggerating, this is a photo of what her back porch looks out on.
Inside that little copse of trees is a gazebo which offers even more spectacular views. The colors were not at peak during our visit, but you can begin to see some of them breaking through. And you can hear the two waterfalls from the gazebo. And so the last thing that she should do is sell this. It would be an absolute tragedy. If anything, she should buy more property on this mountain to keep the pillaging hordes at bay.

But again, that is her decision. I know what I would do.