Altie

You can see a modern day dinosaur story here, and one that's surprisingly local.  On the southern end of this state, there is a legend of a creature named "Altie," who locals aren't entirely sure about, but they know he (or she) is out there, in the water somewhere...

Here's a devotional entry I've been working on about this one:

      Are there dinosaurs alive even today?  Possibly. And just possibly, there’s one that lives nearby you!  Before you laugh, consider the story of Altamaha-ha, or “Altie” for short.  Sightings of this creature go back hundreds of years, and if you’re patient enough, it could be that you can spot him if you take a trip to south Georgia, where the Altamaha River empties out into the Atlantic Ocean.  It’s one of the largest river basins in the country – only the Mississippi River’s is bigger.

      Somewhere in these marshes and winding channels possibly lurks... what could be best described as a dinosaur!  The Native Indians had been seeing him for years before the first official sighting recorded on April 18, 1830.  That’s when witnesses saw a creature off of St. Simons Island that was about seventy feet long!  Since then, it has been seen multiple times by timbermen riding the river in the 1920’s, by hunters in 1935, by boy scouts in the 1940’s, prison guards in the 1950’s, fishermen in the 1960’s, and so on.  As recently as 2010, an amateur photographer captured footage of something strange and large swimming right there not far from him in the murky waters.

      No one knows the truth about Altie, of course.  There are plenty of doubters, with plenty of reasons to doubt the story.  But there are also plenty of believers, mostly local residents and fishermen.  So what’s the deal with Altie?  Is it real or not? 
     We might never know.  In fact, there are some mysteries we may never know the answer to.  For example, why does a matching sock seem to always disappear in the laundry?  Or why do we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway? 
     But more seriously, why do people get sick?  Why do accidents happen?  Why do bad things happen to good people?

      Eventually, we may find the answers to these mysteries.  But as frustrating as it may seem, perhaps we may not.  But through it all our job is not to fully understand everything that happens in life. In fact, we just physically can’t. No, our job is not to lean on our own understanding so much at all.  Our job is much simpler:  all we need to do is trust in the Lord with all our hearts.

      Don’t stress out or worry if you can’t figure something out. Trust in the Lord, because He knows all the answers.  In fact, it’s safe to say He even knows what’s up with Altie.

     It's a Wednesday night here, and the last one of the month, so we had a big service tonight at KidPak, and not the usual small groups meeting for the kids.  Meanwhile, Daddy was meeting with some others about the upcoming "Acting Up" class, sort of planning things out there.  It is going to be great!

     Madison is doing great.  Daddy got home and spent some time on the couch with Madison and Mommy, reading from our devotional, and reading from our latest Neverland adventure.  It's such a comfy couch, especially all together as a family like that.  It's a nice moment.  Mommy usually has something prepared to eat for Daddy at home, and it's such a nice atmosphere to come home to.  Madison is studying for a few tests this week, and also a presentation on Australia.  Daddy is wanting to do some Aussie-related things to help support her studies of Australia - including a trip to Outback, and watching a few movies from Down Under.  Daddy loves some of the items found at the Australian bakery nearby, so we might return there too - anything to enhance her studies, right?

     Everyone is healthy and happy here, although there is a rampant sickness going around.  I think for our part, we went through a bit of that towards the end of November and beginning of December, although nothing as severe as we're hearing is happening elsewhere.  It's "going around."  But we're doing fine here, and keeping healthy as we march forward into... March.  Can you believe March is here already?  They just keep slipping by, these days do.