An Idea

It is a place that had definitely earned its way into our imagination. The kind of place that draws you away from yourself, which in itself sounds like a gift but rarely lives up to that billing. It calls out equally to the rich and famous, the poor clamoring for attention, and most emphatically to everyone who desires "different". Different realities, different circumstances, different partners, different children, different friends, different jobs, our desire to exchange our reality for our illusions is endless. 

And unrelenting.

It testifies daily to our desire for what we do not possess, yet does not consider the pitfalls that come with such a transaction. It is a place where we feel comfortable in either the spheres of  history or fable because we cannot truly discern the difference. It is a place of immense danger, yet gives off none of those vibes in its ongoing mission to draw people away from themselves. Truth is not a currency in this type of mindset, and reality is further despised. Self is the end-game, and envy is the pathway. 

And yet none of this is what has drawn you and I, my fellow reader, to this spot. We are here to right a wrong, that many have experienced but few can comprehend. Because even though some of us can recall our nightmares, it is a rare person who has the courage to confront them. 

Are you ready for this adventure? 

(To be continued . . . )

Braves Take The Lead!

Back on April 11, the Mets lost to the Phillies, 5-4. It was their second-straight loss after starting 3-0. They would win their next three games to push their record in the early going to 6-2. We wouldn't be talking about that little stretch in the first week of the season here in September if it weren't important to the story at hand, clearly, so let's just get to it. 

That span between the Mets loss on April 11 and their win on April 12 was the only time this entire season that they hadn't been in first place ... until now. 

With the Mets loss to the Marlins (MIA 6, NYM 3) and the Braves win at Seattle on Friday night (ATL 6, SEA 4), the Braves have taken a half-game lead in the NL East. 

The Mets led by as many as 10 1/2 games. The Braves worked the lead down to a half game in late July, but the Mets were able to hold them off and push it back up to seven games by Aug. 8. The Braves just refused to go away and battled their way to a tie this past Tuesday evening. The Mets swept a doubleheader on Wednesday to kick the proverbial can down the street a bit, but Friday night's action finally got the Braves over the hump. 

What Now?

By Emily St. James for Vox Magazine

The SBC is a collection of loosely affiliated member churches, boasting just under 15 million members. It has no firm, established hierarchy; it doesn’t even have a central headquarters. In theory, individual churches can preach or believe whatever they want, but the larger “convention” can remove member churches that don’t toe certain lines. Representatives of these churches meet each year at an annual event — also called a convention. At the 2021 convention, member churches voted to conduct an internal investigation of sexual abuse within the church.

Complaints about sexual abuse and sexual assault on the part of pastors were sent to higher-ups who then kept those accusations quiet. Though the report, by Guidepost Solutions, was only commissioned to study the cover-up from the years 2000 on, it found incidents of sexual abuse and warnings of the same going back to the 1960s. In all, Guidepost found accusations leveled against people at all levels: church volunteers, staff, and leadership, including those at the top of the church’s ladder. Those accusations were made by people of different ages and genders, and they include allegations of child sexual abuse, the grooming of adolescents, and the sexual assault of adults.

These findings were not unprecedented. A major investigation by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News, published in 2019, first brought many of the accusations against church leadership to light. The publication of that report galvanized a grassroots drive by individual Southern Baptist churches to hire a firm to conduct an investigation.

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