Psalm 73 Why do the wicked prosper ?

A psalm of Asaph.

1 Surely God is good to Israel,
    to those who are pure in heart.

2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
    I had nearly lost my foothold.
3 For I envied the arrogant
    when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 They have no struggles;
    their bodies are healthy and strong.[a]
5 They are free from common human burdens;
    they are not plagued by human ills.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
    they clothe themselves with violence.
7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity[b];
    their evil imaginations have no limits.
8 They scoff, and speak with malice;
    with arrogance, they threaten oppression.
9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
    and their tongues take possession of the earth.
10 Therefore their people turn to them
    and drink up waters in abundance.[c]
11 They say, “How would God know?
    Does the Highest know anything?”

12 This is what the wicked are like—
    always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.

13 Surely in vain, I have kept my heart pure
    and have washed my hands in innocence.
14 All-day long I have been afflicted,
    and every morning brings new punishments.

15 If I had spoken out like that,
    I would have betrayed your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this,
    it troubled me deeply
17 till I entered the sanctuary of God;    then I understood their final destiny.

18 Surely you place them on slippery ground;
    you cast them down to ruin.
19 How suddenly are they destroyed,
    completely swept away by terrors!
20 They are like a dream when one awakes;
    when you arise, Lord,
    you will despise them as fantasies.

21 When my heart was grieved
    and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant;
    I was a brute beast before you.

23 Yet I am always with you;
    you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward, you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength of my heart
    and my portion forever.

²⁷ Those who are far from you will perish;
    you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
²⁸ But as for me, it is good to be near God.
    I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;    I will tell of all your deeds.

2009 ~ Saturday, September 26, Site seeing in Nashville, TN with sibling

2009 Saturday, September 26, Smithsonian Free Day Nashville, Tennessee 

Becky drove to my house and I drove to Nashville, TN through Lawrenceburg, Columbia, up interstate 65 to Nashville.

We stopped at McDonald's in Columbia TN, to use the bathroom. 

In downtown Nashville, I made a wrong turn and I turned right off interstate 65 instead of going left which took me out of town so I had to turn around and go back into the downtown area. 

Our first stop was The Parthenon in Nashville. The Parthenon is a full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens. It was built in 1897 as part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. 

Entry Cost was 5.50 each. The Parthenon had two galleries the east and west. 

The Parthenon

The Parthenon, Lake Watauga, and rose arbor are all Centennial Park features.

The Parthenon stands proudly as the centerpiece of Centennial Park, Nashville's premier urban park. The re-creation of the 42-foot statue Athena is the focus of the Parthenon just as it was in ancient Greece. The building and the Athena statue are both full-scale replicas of the Athenian originals.

The Parthenon also serves as the city of Nashville's art museum. The focus of the Parthenon's permanent collection is a group of sixty-three paintings by nineteenth and 20-century American artists donated by James M. Cowan. Additional gallery spaces provide a venue for a variety of temporary shows and exhibits.

The address is 2600 West End Avenue Nashville, TN 37203.

Athena 

The focus of the Parthenon's permanent collection is a group of 63 paintings by 19 and 20-century American artists donated by James M. Cowan. 
Additional gallery spaces provide a venue for a variety of temporary shows and exhibits.

The address is 2600 West End Avenue Nashville, TN 37203.

Tennessee State Capitol

Next, we rode to Tennessee’s State Capitol there was a walk-a-ton going on. 

I had to drive around several blocks before I found a park. My sister and I walked to the capitol, I took many pictures.

From the capital build, we walked to the Tennessee State Museum. 

The address is 505 Dederick Street Nashville, TN 37243. There was no charge to visit the museum. We were given a brochure about the museum. The upper level houses the earliest known migration of prehistoric people to Tennessee during the Paleolithic period. 

Artifacts from the Paleolithic, Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian periods are on exhibit. The museum even has a display of bones from a mastodon that roamed Tennessee 10,000 years ago.

The room gradually slopes down into the Mezzanine life in Tennessee before the Civil War the antebellum period. This was life on the frontier and the state transforming into an urban society. Painting and a 3,500 Egyptian mummy brought to Tennessee in 1859. 

My sister said I am so hungry that I can eat that mummy. I turned toward the paintings hanging on the wall and my sister walked toward the lower level. 

I stopped to ask the curator at the desk on the second level about taking pictures of the hanging portraits.

The woman at the desk said she overheard my sister say that she was hungry enough to eat their mummy, we both laughed. 

The lower level had exhibits about the civil war and reconstruction with displays of firearms, quilts, silver, battle flags, uniforms, a Victorian painting gallery and objects from the Tennessee centennial exposition of 1897.

On the lower level, they were showing a film and serving popcorn and a drink, My sister said she wanted real food so we left the museum. We hurriedly went to the museum because my sister wanted lunch.

We stopped at Cocina Mexican Grill & Fresh Deli located at 

Union Station address is 501-A Union Street just a few streets down from the Museum. 

It was a slow day and the worker or owner came over and talked to us. I had cheese dip and it was very good. 

We left the Cocina Mexican Grill and walked down the fifth street.

We stopped so I could take a picture of the Ryman auditorium and some historic markers along the way. We walked over to Broadway Street where I took pictures of a guitar that had pictures of several different entertainers on it and nearby was an Elvis statue

Prehistoric people to Tennessee 

The mummy my sister said she was hungry enough to eat!

Civil War

Elvis Presley Statue located on Broadway Street 

Honky Tonk Guitar
Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Pardon, Conway Twitty, Hank Williams Jr, George Jones, Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette, Charlie Pride, Merle Haggard

 Frist Center for Visual Arts

Our next stop was the Frist Center for Visual Arts, It originally housed the  Nashville’s main Post Office.

Frist building became an art museum in 2001. 

Today the Frist Center is one of the city’s most innovative museums and is centered on continually changing exhibits rather than on permanent collections.

Next, we stopped at the Frist Center for Visual Arts. It originally housing Nashville’s main post office, the historic Frist building became an art museum in 2001. Today the Frist Center is one of the city’s most innovative museums and is centered on continually changing exhibits rather than on permanent collections.

It did not take us long to go to the museum because my sister did not care much for the art. She said that there were too many naked statues and pictures. We talked to the curator at the desk and we told her that we had walked all the way from the capitol building and we were not sure which street to take back.

She said do not to go back the way you had come because it is all uphill. 

The curator said for us to go next door to Union Station.

Union Station Hotel located at 1001 Broadway Nashville, TN.

Union Station - A Wyndham Historic Hotel masterfully restored Nashville lodging — built within a 100-year-old railroad station.

I took pictures both inside and outside. 

I was a beautifully restored hotel building that was once a train depot.

We walked back to the car and we were going to visit the Hermitage but got turned around.

It had been a long day and we had walked miles so I decided to go home.

We stopped in Lawrenceburg to take some pictures of the downtown area and historic markers.

It had been a beautiful day for sightseeing but it was getting late and we both were tired from all that walking.

We were home by 5:50 P.M. 

Union Station Train Depot now Wyndham Hotel 

Union Station Hotel located at 1001 Broadway Nashville, TN.

Union Station - A Wyndham Historic Hotel masterfully restored Nashville lodging — built within a 100-year-old railroad station.

Inside Union Station Wyndham Hotel 

2009 ~Thursday May 14, American Villages Montevallo, Alabama a recreated Colonial Village

The Brooks fifth grade class traved on a school bus to Montevallo to visit the American Village, parents had to ride in their cars.

American Village is Located at 3727 Highway S 119 Montevallo, AL 35115.

At lunch the adults and children sat under the pines at picnic tables to eat.

After lunch we sat in on a debate; where we listen to people tell about the Revelation war, Paul Revere's ride, George Washingtonat Valley Forge, Ben Franklin,& Patrick Henry,signing the Constitution and Betsy Ross,making the American Flag.

At the American Village we the Liberty Bell, Colonial Courthouse, Constitution Green, Washington Hall, (a replica of Mount Vernon) a chapel patterned after Bruton Parish Chapel, tombstones markers, the twelve Amendments to the constitution, and the Whitehouse oval office. 

In the Pettus Randall Miniature Museum was a collection of presidents and their first ladies and other dioramas. 

Having a picnic

The White House Washington Hall, Assembly Room, and Mt Vernon Room

The Pillory

Speaker 

Courthouse

Assembly room

Assembly room

Mt Vernon Room

Meeting House

Encampment

Encampment

Colonial Chapel, patterned after Bruton Parish Chapel
that is located in the restored area of Colonial Williamsburg, Va .

Bell Garden centered with an exact reproduction of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.

Pettus Randall Miniature Museum of American History, a separate building which houses a collection of 72 handcrafted miniatures of American presidents and first ladies and 35 uniquely detailed dioramas of critical moments (over 400 years) in our nation's history.

President House

Randall Museum

National Veterans Shrine 

That night hubby and I went to the Rain concert at the VBCC in Huntsville to watch RAIN (singing songs of the Beatles). 

2009 ~ May 10-12 Eye Repair in Atlanta Ga & Motor Sports Hall of Fame Talladega, AL

Day 1: Monday, May 10,  2009, today is Mother's Day. 

We spent the day on the road to Atlanta. It was a trip in the rain...but at least we made it safely. We checked into the RMD House in Atlanta at about 7 p.m. (EST) and settled in for the night. 

After surgery at Emory Hospital

Day 2: Tuesday, May 11, 2009

Lora dropped Meadow and me off in front of Emory Hospital and we walked next door to Children’s Emory Hospital and took the flower elevator to the third floor, where I registered Meadow.

Lora parked the van and met us on the third floor.

We waited until about 11 A.M. when they called Meadow back to get her vitals and put her in a room that overlooked the Hospital Park. 

It was a beautiful park with a pond, statues, and lots of blooming flowers, trees, and shrubs.  

Meadow's retina surgery was scheduled at 9 A.M. (that is what time she had to be in day surgery). Dr. Swinn & Dr. Hubbard talked with us before they took her back.

They returned from surgery quickly. 

They did not perform the surgery to re-attach the retina. Dr. Hubbard explained that in her case, the optic nerve is enlarged in her right eye. There was not a tear or hole in the retina. He said this was good & bad news. He said that with this type of anomaly, sometimes the retina will flatten itself back out and re-attach. Then again, it might not. He said it would not be worth it to place a hole or tear in the retina to re-attach it because this could cause more problems for a child her age. Therefore, he did not repair the detached retina. He told us that she probably has minimal vision in that eye. She may only see light & shadows. He was not concerned with the gray discoloration in her right cornea (the white part of her eye around the iris). 

Dr. Hubbard did a very detailed exam under anesthesia. Meadow had an allergic reaction to one of the eye drops that they used to dilate her eyes. The nurse said it happened immediately following the drops. It gave her a rash. They had to give her Benadryl through an IV. 

He said her left eye looked good, other than the optic nerve hypoplasia. Meadow will need to return for a follow-up in three months and to keep a watch on the right eye. We can only hope for the best that the retina will flatten out and re-attach on its own. The longer it is detached, the poorer the prognosis.

Meadow was dismissed from the hospital after drinking some water. We walked around the hospital park and took pictures.

We rode back to the Ronald McDonald House to eat.

We rode to the Carter building parked the car and walked around.

Next, we rode downtown Atlanta to a park.

We did not stay long because we could not find anywhere to park free. Marcus called Lora, he wanted her to call Ron to see if he could pick up Madison.

Lora went up a one-way street while she was on the phone.

She made a U-turn and we went back to the Ronald McDonald House.

In the lobby after surgery at Emory Hospital

Park at Emory Hospital 

Park at Emory Hospital 

Park at Emory Hospital 

Walking around at the Carter Center in Atlanta 

International Motorsports Hall of Fame and Museum

Talladega Speedway 

Day 3: Wednesday, May 12, 2009

I vacuumed, cleaned the room, made the beds, and carried the dirty linen to the parking deck.

We ate breakfast, of oats, eggs, raisin bread, and tea. 

We washed clothes before we left which was about 10 A.M.

We stopped at the Talladega Super Speedway in Talladega where we toured the museum and took the bus to the racetrack.

Talladega Superspeedway is the biggest, fastest, and most competitive motorsports facility in the world. Records for both speed and competition have been established at Talladega.

Talladega Superspeedway can accommodate more than 143,000 seated guests and thousands more in the 212-acre infield. The track offers van tours to visitors daily during working hours except on weeks around events. 

Adjacent to the track is the International Motorsports Hall of Fame and Museum, which opened in April 1983 and is dedicated to the preservation of the history of motorsports

Admission to the museum is $10 for adults, $5 for kids aged 7 to 17, and free for kids aged 6 and younger.

There were three buildings of race memorable, cars, trophies, photos, etc.

The bus tour took about 45 minutes. The guide told many antidotes about racing.

We met an elderly woman in the library of the museum, she personally knew Richard Petty. She said that she rented a home from the Pettys.

She said what do you want to know about the Pettys.

Only Dale Earnhardt, Davey Allison, Bobby Labonte, and Martin have won in three or more racing series at Talladega. In addition, as the only driver to win in four different racing series at NASCAR’s Most Competitive Track, Martin is in a league of his own.

We ate supper at Cracker Barrel and traveled home.