A skeptic is a person who when he sees the handwriting on the wall claims it's a forgery. - Morris Bender

I saw a TV ad today advertising 2 CD's of great church songs, one of which is Amazing Grace. The ad reminded me of one of my Secret Service experiences which I have always wanted to write down. In the early 1980's I was on a protective detail (that's Secret Service language for guarding a dignitary). It was Sunday morning and the two dignitaries I was with, a man and his wife, decided to attend church. The church was an old country church that still practiced the custom 'washing of feet'. This is where church members washed the feet of other church members as Jesus did for the Disciples. My assignment that day was to drive the limo and all the way to church the wife kept telling the husband she didn't want her feet washed no matter if it was a custom. When we arrived at the church and before entering, a young blind man was standing outside with some friends who introduced themselves. We entered the church and were shown to our reserved seats in the pews and the service began. After the preacher welcomed everyone, we opened our hymnals and the first hymn was "Amazing Grace". When we got to the line "...was blind, but now I see...", the young blind man came bursting through the side door and made his way to his pew. Everyone in our party looked at each other and I actually got tears in my eyes. To this day I still half way want to believe it was a staged event, but then do I really don't want to know for sure? I just enjoy the mystery of it. But it was an enjoyable service.

PS: No one got their feet washed that Sunday.

Attend church this Easter Sunday and every Sunday.

Not much has been posted here in the last few days due to my trip up north for 6 days of training on background investigations. Since the US Office of Personnel Management has taken over a vast majority of security background checks for government and military personnel I needed to be "re-trained". The schedule called for 58 hours of training in 6 days, Saturday included. Needless to say I learned a lot and still have a huge handbook to absorb. I want to thank all the instructors and say hello to all my classmates: Pat Donovan, Ed Eads, Chuck King, Lee Lacy, Ingrid McCoy, John McKee, Christina Nathan, Eileen O'Hara, Basil Santos and Jerry Wall. Take care and stay in touch.

Everyone dreams of owning a home on the water where they can retreat to and recharge their batteries on the weekend. Well, in October 1997 our dream came true. After 5 years of looking we finally found a place on Lake Gaston, NC which we fell in love with. I also credit our little cabin with saving my sanity during my last years with the Secret Service. Mainly because after all the job pressure from Monday - Friday (and more), we could retreat to the peace and quiet of the lake and get away from the hustle and bustle to recharge our batteries.



Much has happened with our little house since October 1997. Especially with Hurricanes Floyd and Isabelle coming through the region. But those are for additional stories. To be continued...