Aging Well: Growing As A Sign of Life
Robert Beckum
In his book, Reaching Out, Morton Kelsey relates his experience of visiting Yosemite National Park and standing before one of the oldest living creatures on earth—-a giant redwood. The park ranger shared some of the amazing statistics about the tree. It was already a towering tree at the time of Christ’s birth. Now, at three thousand years old, it stands three hundred feet tall and measures nearly one hundred feet around at its base. This tree withstood numerous lightning strikes, forest fires and even earthquakes. “But the most amazing thing about the tree before you,” said the park ranger (as if all that he had said before were not amazing), “It is still growing!” Each year, the ranger explained, this tree adds some seven hundred fifty board feet of new growth. The most amazing thing about the tree was neither its longevity nor its size but the fact that it was still growing!
Kelsey’s insight is certainly true of senior adults. My work at Magnolia Manor has opened allowed me to meet some of the most amazing people on the planet—-our residents. What is most amazing is not their longevity or their accomplishments or even their stories as amazing as some of those stories are. The truly amazing attribute of so many senior adults is the way in which they continue to grow in spirit and soul all their life. I think of the ninety-two year old minister who has studied the Bible all his life. He still rises early every morning to be about his studies. One wisecracking staff member said, “You would think he has learned about all there is to know by now.” But he rises early to study not out of a sense of obligation but out of his sense of opportunity. His passion for the Word of God as an “inexhaustible treasure trove” results in new growth for his mind and soul every day, and it shows.
I think of our ninety-four year old physician who has just published his third volume on endocrinology in retirement because he was too busy for the rigors of writing during his active medical practice. Far from stagnation, he is embracing generativity to the fullest, adding new growth not only to his own life but to his profession. I think about the eighty-four year old resident whose entire adult life centered on caring for her family and “keeping house.” She never knew that she had any aptitude for art until she signed up for an art class just to “have something to do.” Far beyond just having something to do, she discovered a gift to share. She is still growing in grace and creativity through her art work.
It is not Magnolia Manor alone. Our churches across Georgia are filled with seniors who defy the cultural stereotypes of aging. It’s not the longevity or accomplishments or the memories of these elder saints that make them amazing. What makes them amazingly interesting people is that they are still growing in mind, spirit and soul. In their continued growth, they are models for the rest of us as to how life should be lived at any age.
Rev. Robert Beckum is Vice President of Church Relations and Development Magnolia Manor rbeckum@magnoliamanor.com.
Tech Talk Sharing Photos Online
Chris Branscomb
I recently had the opportunity to go on a trip to the Holy Land. The trip spanned 10 days and it was an incredible experience to actually get to visit many of the places I had read about in the Bible all my life. Since it was my first trip to Israel, I wanted to take as many pictures as I could in order to remember where I had been as well as to share my experiences with my family and friends. I ended up taking over 950 pictures while there.
Shortly after returning home, I tried to figure out the best and cheapest way to share all those pictures with everyone who had gone on the trip, as well as with family and friends. I wanted a way where others could view the pictures as well as have the option to download the file to their computers if they wanted to use them. I thought about using a DVD-ROM and mailing them to everyone (I have done this in the past with a couple of my church groups), but that would take time to burn the DVDs and cost a little bit of money to mail. I could have set up my own web server in my house and hosted a website that everyone could come to on the internet, but that would take even more time and money and open up my computer to other problems. I know you can share pictures on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, but those are often limited as to what you can do (size and quality). Instead of going with any of those options, I began looking at online photo sharing services.
Before doing my research, I knew of a few sites dedicated to photo sharing and have used a few of them in the past, but I did not realize how many are available and the different limitations and options each service has. Flickr (www.flickr.com), KODAK Gallery (www.kodakgallery.com), Picasa (picasaweb.google.com), Shutterfly (www.shutterfly.com), Snapfish (www.snapfish.com), and stock.xchng (www.sxc.hu) are just a sampling of the sites I knew of or found that are available.
Each of the photo services I examined had their own policies, conveniences, and limitations. Most of the services I looked at had free accounts available, but these accounts often had limitations like storage space. They all offered ways to upgrade an account in order to get fewer restrictions or give you more storage space. Some of the services allow you to link to your photos from other websites (like a church or personal webpage). Some will allow you to upload images to your online album via e-mail, which would give someone the option of uploading photos from their phone the instant they took them. Most of the services offer you or others a way to order prints or other merchandise (that is how they make money). Some of the services will even allow you to sell your photos to others.
When viewing the photos on the web, all the services I examined resize the original picture to best fit the browser viewing it and shorten the download time. Some services will allow you to save that image to your computer and others will not, but some will even allow the original photo file (not a resized/lower quality image) to be downloaded. With all of the services you can limit who can view your pictures, whether it is completely public or just people who you have invited to see the album.
In the end, I did find a service that fit my needs: Google’s Picasa. If you want to share your photos online, the first thing you need to determine is what you want to be able to do with them. Then do a little research and see which of the photo sharing services best fits your needs.
The Rev. Chris Branscomb is pastor of Williamstown UMC in Mineral Bluff. He can be reached at pastor@williamstown-umc.org.
Beyond the News: Two Outstretched Metal Hands
This is a true story about two metal outstretched hands on Reynolds Square in Savannah.
Creede Hinshaw
I basked in the sunshine on a park bench in Reynolds Square recently (the northernmost square on Abercorn Street), having pedaled my bike downtown in the glorious weather. Azaleas were already abloom there, a mockingbird graced the square with song and a honeybee perched on my blue jeans enjoying the sunshine with me. A bronze John Wesley presides over Reynolds Square, standing atop a pedestal and garbed in his English vestments, his left hand holding a bible and his other arm outstretched. The nearby historical marker quotes the sculptor as saying “Wesley’s right hand is stretched out in love.”
On a bench across the way sits a woman with a hooded sweatshirt and a plastic bag stuffed with her possessions. Soon a lanky blue jeans-clad man, carrying a bedroll and wearing what look like old Sunday shoes sits on the bench next to mine. He lights a cigarette and we strike up a conversation. He is in his early 50s, he says, an ex-con twice over having spent 10 years “paying his debt to society” as he describes it. He’s been in Savannah six months and wants to find a full time job as a roofer or a carpenter, but nobody’s hiring…especially ex-cons. He gets odd jobs here and there, but never enough to afford a room for the night. And so he sleeps in ditches and homeless shelters.
We talk about the twists and turns of life. He says he would never have imagined 30 years ago that he’d in his present situation. I ask him about his parents. Could he stay with them? They are in their late 70s, he says, and it’s all they can do to care for themselves, so he doesn’t burden them. He’s come to Reynolds Square because Christ Episcopal Church serves a free sack lunch later in the morning and he’s going to wait in line soon. I must look trustworthy to him, because he asks me if I’ll watch his bedroll while he finds a bathroom. Returning to the square he moves to “my” bench and spotting my newspaper asks if he can read the sports section. He reads while I write in my journal. We talk some more and he is on his way.
Sometime later as I leave Reynolds Square I notice the depiction of another outstretched hand, this one emblazoned on a metal sign affixed to a post at about eye level. The open palm of the hand has 40 cents falling into it, dropping as if from heaven. But the hand is encircled in bright red with a red slash running diagonally across the palm. Beneath this symbol are the words:
NO PANHANDLING
City Code 9-1001
I am glad this warning sign stands at John Wesley’s back where he cannot gaze upon it. I believe he would disapprove. The benches in Reynolds Square are not church pews, but they could be. And the people sitting on those benches, many of them poor, are not Wesley’s parishioners, but they probably would have been. And it may be against the law to beg for food or money in Savannah, but it’s not against the law to give voluntarily, and I’m glad churches are freely doing so. Thanks, Wesleyan Christian Advocate, for giving me the privilege of writing on these pages over the years. I’ve written for five gifted and committed editors over the course of twenty years. To God be the glory.
Kumquats and global warming
MONCKS CORNER, SC – Editor: I thoroughly enjoyed Rev. Tom Johnson’s article on polar bears and kumquats. I live in Moncks Corner, SC, not far from Charleston and am enjoying fruit from my neighbor’s kumquat plants. He had an abundant crop this year and forced a gallon zip lock bag full on me. Of course I didn’t complain. I was really surprised to see them thriving this far north, but that’s one of the benefits of global warming which until recently was considered one of God’s great blessings. During one warming period in the past grape vines were in abundance in Northern England and may return.
By the way, in the past we have had several periods of global warming more severe that what the alarmists are predicting at the moment. Guess what? We still have polar bears. It shows that God will provide, as necessary. In order to feed our growing population a longer and more widespread growing season will be necessary. How can any Christian view global warming as other than a blessing from God?
Bill Greene
Pinopolis UMC,
Moncks Corner, SC
Stained Glass
By Johnny Hawkins
