Beginning Again Now

"You don't look that old!"

I'm told that a lot.

It might be the long hair most guys in their 60s don't have ... which I say is a shade of brown like it was when I was 30 but is really some indescribable hue definitely not included in the Crayola 64 colors Big Box set.

Having a hot wife 2 decades my junior certainly throws people off who're thinking, "No way a Babe like that's married to an old relic so he's gotta be younger than I think."

I mostly hang out with kids, or people who act like them, so it could be guilt by association. All of my time is spent with aforementioned young, hot wife ... three teenage daughters ... and a bunch of musicians.

Spending virtually no time whatsoever with real adults ... aforementioned young, hot wife being the exception ... I can see how many believe I'm younger than I am.

Of course it could be our baby.

Most men my age don't spend almost  every waken moment with a 20 month old ... but I do.

We hang out ... stroll the beach ... gets free suckers and drinks ... talk to Garret and the gang renting Beach Umbrellas by the Pier ... visit Tennessee and Evelyn at the Bait Shop ... tell tourists where's the Lighthouse ... recommend the best Seafood ... build sandcastles ... swim in the Ocean ... work on our tans.

On my rare time alone, I practice guitar, pretend I can sing, write songs for aforementioned young, hot wife and act like a rock star on Tuesday's at Monty Parks Acoustic Jam and Sunday's at Bar Church.

It's a pretty adolescent way to live but ... that's my life.

Apparently it makes many believe I'm younger.

I turn 62 today.

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever believe I'd be this old.

Logic's defied I'm here.

"You want to sleep in or take a nap this afternoon?" Sarah sweetly asks as Che calls for us before the sun's and we're cuddled in bed.

"A nap, of course," spoken like an old person.

I feel the same as I always have ... except I've got a gut because I stopped running ... and it takes me longer to get up after I get down to play with Che ... but otherwise I feel great.

While I've lived a lot of lives up to this point, I'm in no way finished as Sarah and I plan reshuffling our deck to make new journeys, find more enjoyable time together and leave behind things passed.

"I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now," goes the song about back pages.

"We've only just begun," goes another one, "sharing horizons that are new to us."

Today Sarah insists taking time to celebrate the fact I'm here as friends from the past and present send good wishes but it's this year I'm looking forward to most.

Everything before was merely a prelude to now.

This is us now staring at new horizons, hungry to arrive before we've taken a step, confident in how much better everything is and in wonderment of everything coming our way.

I hope your day is every bit as good as mine!

Going Back to Church

At first they met in public parks, each other's homes and Bars.

There were no Churches ... just people who believed God was with them and they need one another.

Initially no one cared but as they grew in number and voice, their meetings were outlawed, on occasion punishable by death.

It'd take 300 years before they were finally sanctioned by the Government and could meet freely.

How things went afterwards depends on your point of view.

Churches are built in grand specter, a welcoming people grow less tolerant, creeds and rules are written, their Savior is sanitized for better consumption and they even declare wars on each other when they're not waging it against those who believe differently from them.

It's why I like Bar Church.

It hearkens back to how it all began ... as handfuls collected to sing praises, pray and encourage each other.

There were baptisms and a supper to remember their Lord.

Nothing else was really necessary.

Honestly, nothing else really is.

We gather to make a Church without walls.

We sing lots of songs.

We share food remembering the Lord.

Baptisms are in the Ocean.

The words are encouraging, mostly focusing on God's special made gifts ... this day you have ... forgiveness begins with yourself because God's already offered ... and we try to laugh.

There's a bucket people can tip or tithe in, a simple sign proclaiming to those outside the Bar who we are and more smiling faces after a service than before.

It's disorganized religion.

Those first years 300 ago, the Church changed the world for the better.

After that, it's hard to tell.

At Bar Church we've reclaimed the roots of what it really is to "be Church" ... rather than go to one.

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Micheal performs weddings for those wishing a minister! It's not for every body but for those who believe in celebrating love in the grand Cathedrals with sand for a floor, the Ocean as background under the deep blue canopy God put in place long before any building was constructed for worship!

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Tybee Church ministers to those traditional churches can't reach and to continue doing it we are conducting a campaign to raise $10,000 to cover one year's cost. We're over 1/3 of the way there! If you've been helped by Bar Church, are blessed keeping up with us daily on Face Book or want to help Church without walls, you can at

Tybee Church

P.O. Box 1511

Tybee Island, GA 31328

or click https://www.gofundme.com/tybeebarchurch

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THIS SUNDAY AT BAR CHURCH ... we inch closer. Monty Parks returns. Eric Johnson bringing music with his daughter, a wad of family and biscuits! Tommy Hall's either bringing an electric Fender or a Fiddle. Gordon Hill brings a suitcase full of Harmonicas. Sam Sahr has a devotion and a Joke. Lord hasn't said squat to Micheal yet about anything else.

10nish at Benny's on Tybee Island.