Piatagorsky Concert

It was such a pleasure to hear these guys and then get to visit with them. They are amazing, world-class musicians and it was a joy to hear them in person. The cello player is Evan Drachman, and the pianist is Richard Dowling. They tour with the Piatigorsky Foundation, providing more than 200 concerts each year. They performed at Brushy Creek UMC Sunday afternoon. I took this photo at Northside Primary Monday. Evan says this cello was built in Italy in 1720. He told us that the horse hair in the bow is real horse hair and comes from horses that live in Siberia, where it is really cold, which makes the hair thicker and stronger. Evan began playing the cello when he was eleven. Richard began piano lessons at age five. I told him if he would just practice a little more, he might get pretty good!

Gaylord Texan Thanksgiving Trip 2012

Mt. Vernon UMC Trunk or Treat 2012

Click here to see more photos

Galveston Trip 2012

Here's the view from our room at Galveston. Jodi and I went on what I hope is our first annual fall trip. Click here to see more photos.

142nd Homecoming at Brushy Creek Arbor

I preached on Jude 1 - 7

KLTV Longview News Team - Mid-80s

Craig's New Churches

I preach at Brushy Creek at 9:30, then Pert at 11:00 each Sunday.

Amazing Summer

This is my writing spot. You can't tell from this photo, but it's raining -- and cool. 79 degrees on July 14th at 11:30 in the morning.

Last summer, a giant "high" was stationed above Texas and we sweltered in the heat and in a drought. This year, nearly the whole country is in drought - except East Texas. We've had plenty of rain and much cooler temperatures. An "upper level low" is parked over us. I pray for the folks around the country who are suffering this year like we did last year, but I rejoice that we, in my area, are experiencing an amazing summer.

Savannah's 16th Birthday

Hummingbirds 2012

The hummers showed up the middle of April - right on time. We were sitting on the patio at lunch one day and one buzzed through. I ran in and got the feeder and we are back in business.

David's Prom 4-14-12

Harris Family Easter Picnic 2012

Biblical Discrepancies

Does it bother you that Matthew's gospel says Jesus came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday on two donkeys, and Mark, Luke and John mention just one? Then Matthew and Mark write that one angel was at the tomb, but Luke and John say there were two.
A person who is looking for a reason not to believe might read these differences and conclude they are sufficient evidence to reject the story as a myth.
But lets take another look. First of all, if there were two donkeys and two angels, then there was one donkey and one angel. It might be that the gospel writers in question only mentioned the one donkey that Jesus rode and the one angel who spoke. All of the writers agree that Jesus rode in on a donkey and an angel was present and spoke to the women at the tomb. The other details are secondary and we can easily get a picture of what happened from reading the four narratives.
Let's consider why it is actually a good thing that we have these secondary discrepancies in the four gospels.
First, you can rule out that one person wrote the Bible. We know that the Bible was written by 40 authors on three continents in three languages over a 1400-year period. One of the miracles of the Bible is that they all agree with each other. No one thinks one person wrote the Bible. And no one believes one person wrote the New Testament. Why would one person write four gospel accounts? But if he did, wouldn't every little detail match perfectly? The discrepancies prove that four men wrote the four gospels. The more you study them, the more you understand the different emphasis each gospel has. (For starters, Matthew emphasises what Jesus said, Mark and Luke emphasise what he did, John emphasises who he was...)
Second, the discrepancies prove that the four authors didn't collaborate with each other to make sure they got the story straight. These are independent accounts. And we would expect four witnesses to an event to see four slightly different things, and that's just what we have in the Bible. But we have a core that runs through all of them that is exactly the same. Therefore we can know that the story is true.
Third, the discrepancies prove that the Bible wasn't edited (and fixed) later. When the Council of Nicea in 325 discovered and composed the cannon of books of the Bible, the discrepancies and inconsistencies were left intact. This is extremely important because it shows that legendary embellishments were not allowed in. And no one changed to gospel story to fit the current world view. The books were included based on their apostolic authority -- and they were included just as they were written. We know from history that the early church was extremely careful to preserve the gospels and epistles in their exact form - the discrepancies prove this.

Craig and Jodi's Wedding Movie

Dana and Papaw's 75 Anniversary

This is the news article that was in the Palestine Herald Press on Sunday, January 29th, 2012:

Virgil and Lela Harris of Palestine are celebrating their 75^th Wedding Anniversary on January 30th with a dinner hosted by family and friends.
Lela Kelley Harris says her father cried when she told him she was getting married. His 21-year-old girl was marrying a man that he had not met and that Lela had only known for a couple of months. The year was 1937. She was a tall, beautiful red head who had caught Virgil Harris’ eye as she walked past the gas station where he worked on Avenue A in Palestine. He was 22, having been born the year World War One broke out in Europe. He was six-feet-one, weighed 220 pounds and had a 29-inch waist. He was all muscle and movie-star handsome with black hair as thick as his biceps.
When Lela began her new job and first started walking to it from her parents’ home, she didn’t notice the young man at the station. Then one day, her older sister came in and said there was a good-looking fellow at the gas station. “Let’s go get some gas,” she said with a wink. The girls scraped up a quarter and went and bought two gallons of gasoline for their father’s car. Virgil and Lela made eyes and the rest is history.
Well, as Lela Kelley walked by his station each day on her way to her depression-era government job in the old Post Office building in downtown Palestine, Virgil would come out to the street with a water hose and pretend he was going to spray her. She was a country girl from the hills of Concord in north Anderson County. He had only recently moved to Palestine from Wood County after he and his older brother, Roy, purchased the gas station from Williams Oil Company. He lived with a family on Dallas Street and also walked to work every day. Lela had long red locks that flowed behind her as she strode by on her five-foot-eight frame. She would cock her head at him and giggle as he tried to make the best of their brief daily encounter.
It didn’t take long for him to ask her for a date. She accepted and he met her at the movie theater. She says it was the Texas Theater, but he says it was the Pal. She told me he walked up with a coke bottle cap in one of his eyes and grinning like a mule eating briers. He had borrowed the “shop car” from the gas station. It was a Chevy coup with a broken steering wheel and no heater. “We didn’t need a heater,” he said, grinning. Their first date was on December first – his birthday. After the movie, which neither can remember, they drove the coup to the Old Mill Inn drive-in restaurant and ate burgers in the car.
The date must have gone well because they married two months later on January 30, 1937. He met her parents the night before the wedding and she went to Winnsboro to meet his folks a month afterward. A couple with a car drove them in thick fog to Jacksonville to Rev. Green’s house for the wedding. No family members were present.
The young couple moved into a furnished house on Kolstad Street where the rent was twelve dollars and fifty cents per month with all bills paid. Each of them made fifty dollars per month so they did okay. Virgil joined the home guard when World War II broke out.
She was a member First Baptist Church in Palestine and he soon joined her there. In 1954, they joined a new church on their side of town, Norwood Heights Baptist. They were faithful members of the church, teaching Sunday School and attending regularly until this past year. Lela worked in a flower shop, but has mostly been a homemaker; Virgil retired from Mopac Railroad in the mid-seventies and went to work as a salesman at KLIS Radio until the early nineties. Both are members of the Masonic Lodge. Virgil is also a Shriner and Gideon.
Now days, they don’t drive anymore, so they only visit Norwood when they can catch a ride with someone. They lost their oldest son, Don, in 2010, when he was 72. Remaining children are: Judy Foree and husband, Ken, and John Harris and his wife Linda, and Daughter-in-Law Fran Harris. Grandchildren are: Kevin Harris and wife, Kelly, Craig Harris and wife Jodi, Lezlee Neel and husband Gregg, and Stephanie Miley and husband Robert. Great-grandchildren: Travis and Kristyn Neel, David, Savannah, Kody, Tanner and Payton Harris, and Monica Miley.
Virgil, 97, and Lela, 96, are residents of Dogwood Trails Assisted Living in Palestine.

Good Lookin' Family

Writing and Playing

This is what I really enjoy doing - writing and playing songs on the keys and guitar. I haven't been doing this much in recent years, but I'm finally getting back to it.

Joan Hallmark Emmy Reception

Really enjoyed seeing my friends from my days at KLTV. We still enjoy watching Joan's feature stories and Mark Scirto's weather. Joan was honored for winning a Silver Circle Lifetime Emmy Award for her years of great broadcasting. I was her photographer and editor from 1987 to 1989 or so. They showed some video of Joan's past stories at the reception and used video that I shot. It was a story on Earl Campbell we videoed in Austin at Memorial Stadium.