Mississippi

The full moon IS following me all along the way. It is just as full and bright here in Vicksburg, Mississippi as it was in Alabama on Friday night.  What I’m trying to say is that we live on a small speck of this universe and the vastness of our surroundings above and beyond are incomprehensible.  This thought reminds me of one of my favorite hymns, sung by Ray Price many years ago:  “How big is God?  How big and wide his vast domain?  To try to tell these lips can only start.  He’s big enough to rule his mighty universe, but small enough to live within my heart.”

We enjoyed our drive from Birmingham, Alabama to Vicksburg, Mississippi yesterday.  The sky was cloudy and a few drops of rain fell along the way.  We spent the night at the  Ameristar Casino campground in Vicksburg.  We’ve stayed here before and find it very comfortable.  A shuttle bus runs all night long for those who wish to visit the Casino—to throw away their hard earned cash or to enjoy a sumptuous seafood buffet.  We didn’t do either one of those things, but the same friendly woman who drove the shuttle last year is still driving it this year and the hostess at the campground office is the same woman who has greeted us since we first started visiting Vicksburg some six years ago.  

Today we will cross the Mississippi River as we drive to Alexandria, Louisiana to visit my cousin Tom for lunch and then onward—maybe into Texas by nightfall—and then again maybe not.  It depends on how long we visit.  I connected with Tom fifty-four years ago and then we lost track of each other until just seven years ago.  Since then we try to visit him whenever we take the southern route.  Tom is what I call an “ironclad ultra-conservative” and I’m what he calls a “flaming liberal.”  In spite of our political differences, we are cousins and our kinship and love for each other will trump our differences.  I hope!  

South Carolina Sunset, Thursday, February 9, 2017