In A World Gone Crazy As This

To me, there is something so beautiful and peaceful about country music that I feel no other genre has to offer. I suppose everyone could present their case for the type of music they love, but I love the story telling of country...the love for God, and country and a "down-home" lifestyle.  I don't know; I guess it kinda represents who I am...or at least who I wanna be... (minus the drinking, of course.) ;-)

Meanwhile, back at mama's....




A little cash on the radio????   ;-) That just might be the understatement of the year in Tim's case. 
Enjoy!!!

Bon-Bons and Soap Operas - Maybe Tomorrow

It is very quiet here today - extremely pleasant; a moment of slowing down. I want to write. I feel like writing, but I remain a bit unfocused and challenged by the busyness of the last few weeks. So this post will probably seem rambling…maybe even out of touch…random…just rambles.

The past reentered the present in an overwhelming way…joyful, yet heart-wrenching. Glorious, yet convicting; amazing wonder that is inexplicable, yet fulfilling…that shouldn’t be a surprise – it is the way of life. Sometimes, things are not the way they seem. You don't always do your best at 30 years old, and someone forgives you, is proud of you, loves you anyway. Humbling to say the least. One can only do that if they have Jesus.

The lady “who sits around eating bon-bons and watching soap operas all day”, finally finished a major project this week with better than anticipated satisfaction. I got fed up with the mud and muck in front of the stalls during winter, and created a paddock footing that actually works!! I actually got to see it in action already, too! After the torrential drenching we had a couple days ago, there was water all around the pastures, but no flooding in front of the barn or stalls. Phew!!!  Not such a big deal??  You try moving all that rock and gravel in mostly 90 + weather at 60 years old!  J  I’m better than I thought. Most of my projects fail…not this one!  I am happy, happy, happy!

The fields are awash, with no sea green waves this year…ugh!  Heartbreaking, but it happens from time to time. I shook my head at a neighborhood farmer a few years ago…now I understand why. His is the example we should follow.

My garden is in complete heart failure this year…I knew it would be this way…I should have passed for this season. It would have been the better way. My grandpa always said: “A job worth doing, is a job worth doing right.” I always admired his example in that. Yep; I should have passed on the garden for this season. I knew I wouldn’t do it well. But I will commit to excellence, next year.

Quit my job due to a busy life. I am glad God offers me the opportunity to do that.

There are decisions to be made. Some will go kicking and screaming, if they go at all. I only want to guide and direct where God shows me, but attempt to keep my will out of all of it. Funny how things that are none of my business affect and impact me so greatly.

Sometimes it seems no one thinks a thing about the one that gives his all. I am proud of my son. He is better than me. When I grow up, I want to be like him.

There is a Smokey Bear and he has beautiful stories to tell.  One day, I will tell one.

I continue to enjoy Facebook during my breaks…you know, when I am not eating bon-bons and watching soap operas.  But I am a fish out of water. I use it to keep up on political commentary and world events. There is no quicker way to get news. And such news there is!! Why anyone wants to bury their head in the sand is beyond me. Compelling, gripping, Bible prophecy fulfilling...but shhhhhh, don't say a word! It is not expedient to have an opinion or carelessly state it. I do anyway. And I puzzle at the offense. I am sure “friends” just "block" me. That’s ok. Can't say as I blame them. I am not talking to them anyway. I wonder what would Jesus say at the format we are afforded, but have refused to use due to political correctness?  There is still plenty of time for silliness. I participate in that as well. It is good for the soul that is awash in busyness or despair.

“Never again” means never again! I will not hold my piece. It is the way of it.
 

The childhood dream didn't work out; and God graciously showed me: "What was I thinking!!!!" I love my home and I hope to never give up my horses.

Said good-bye to two very dear old friends this summer. Thought about memorializing them on my blog, but there have already been too many. I memorialize them in my heart. Col! I salute you! Selfishly, I cry: "Come back, Shane!"

I don’t know why we choose the world. One would think in a world where everyone strives to be different and unique, one would choose to be different and unique.  It is far more difficult to choose the narrow way.
 

The bunnies win.

The mowing continues…

 

hashtag: makeastatementthatcounts (Please note sarcasm, which is why I didn't actually use a hashtag)

Oh, and McGraw is coming!  But so is Jesus!!   No comparison; but reprieves are allowed. ;-)

 

Ok…time to regroup - back to those bon-bons and soap operas.*
 

In the midst of it - life!

 

*For those that don’t know, this is an old-fashioned expression for a spoiled, rich lady…I don’t actually watch soap operas…but I do eat bon-bons...and I am actually very rich....spoiled just for today...and maybe tomorrow for just a bit. ;-)
 

" Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our

Saviour Jesus Christ;" ~ Titus 2:13

 

It's The Soil - Spending Treasure

A wave of nostalgia washed over me. For a moment, things felt just like they did way back then.

The tall pines that lined the driveway had not changed. The house, though not the same, sat nestled in the trees that were the very same trees that had embraced the old house that had been there when we were kids growing up.

I’m pretty sure I have not been to visit this place since our childhood. But just for that moment everything felt like it did all those years ago. I like that.

I had been to town with my folks and as we returned down the familiar, but ever-changing street, we were driving slowly – counting the deer.

“There’s DG,” I said, waiving as I said it. “Oh look! He is motioning for us to pull in!”

As I pulled into the driveway, now nicely paved, (many years removed from the dirt drives and gravel roads of our past) I admired the cleanly kept yard and beautiful log home, that DG had built after buying this place from his dad.

DG gave Dad and Mom a big old smile, and my heart smiled, too, as I thought about all the years that had been kept between the three of them. They love each other, I thought, and that smile DG has is still very much the same.

DG was one of my brother’s best friends growing up and he and I had gone to school together since first grade. I hadn't kept in contact with him, but my folks and DG were never out of touch.

I think I have written about DG before. He has the most beautiful garden I have ever seen anywhere, hands down, bar none. What ever the expression is! I have never seen a garden like DG’s and it is the same every year!

It was clear why he had motioned us to stop. He had vegetables for Mom and Dad. As he started to gather them into a sack, he told us, “I was just coming down to your place! I’ve got these vegetables for you.”

“DG”, I exclaimed, “you have the most beautiful garden I have ever seen anywhere! I don’t know how you do it! I wish mine looked like that.”

“It’s the soil,” he modestly answered. And I knew that was at least in part true. The soil in this area is rich and dark – almost like a finely roasted coffee bean – the dark ones that I always prefer to select.

“I know.” I replied, “But there is more to it than that. Nobody else out here has a garden like yours!” You’ve got this down!”

“Nah,” he smiled, “it’s the soil.” And my heart smiled again. This is exactly the DG I knew all those years ago. Humble and unassuming; never one to toot his own horn. The memories flooded over me again. He’s kept it, I thought. He has kept the way we were raised, the values and attitudes with which our folks all raised us when we were all neighbors and friends in this little community where we grew up.

Nostalgia washed over me, again…this is how it was then, I thought to myself. This was our neighborhood, and this is how we behaved. I remembered we were all taught "humility" was an important trait for us to uphold. We respected people like that. It was the way we were supposed to be. I remember it! I had almost forgotten how good that is. I think now days it would be much more common to have to sit through a lecture on all the things one had done to make ones garden so fantastic if that compliment had been offered to some people now days. But this was our neighborhood, and here it seemed - at least in this moment - things hadn't changed.
 

As I backed out of the driveway, the memories flooded over me again. And it felt as if I were back there again; 50 years ago. It all was the same, again…just like it was when we were kids - for just a moment in time things were rich and deep and old-fashioned. It was the neighborhood I cherish.

Yeah, it’s the soil, I thought to myself; where a whole lot of good was raised.

A Call to Prayer

Have you heard about the call to prayer for our nation? Anne Graham Lotz (Billy Graham's daughter) has written a beautiful letter to be circulated to request and organize a call to action. We used to see calls like this a lot more often than we have of late. But I am quite certain we have never needed it more.

 

I'm equally certain most of us pray every day for our nation. But this is a call for collective prayer. It is urgent and it is overdue. I think it would be so like the Lord to call us during the week of our national holiday. Please pray.

In a letter to Pat Robertson, Anne Graham Lotz wrote:


June 20, 2014

Dear Pat,

As you may know, my husband is in declining health. I am no longer traveling and speaking as much as I have for the last 26 years since I am staying home to care for him. As a result, I have had time to be quiet and listen more to the whispers of the Spirit. He has revealed things to me in the stillness that I'm not sure I would have heard in my former busyness.

One of the things He has impressed on me is that we are living at the end of human history as we know it. In light of this, He has given me some practical assignments. One was to be the Honorary Chair for the National Day of Prayer 2014 this past May. He gave me the message I was to deliver, which was from Joel 1...the Day of the Lord is at hand. It was a message warning that judgment is coming.

Just recently, He has given me another assignment, which is to call His people in our nation to prayer. This assignment came indirectly from a Syrian pastor through a National Day of Prayer attendee. In obedience, I am blowing the trumpet...sounding the alarm...issuing a national prayer initiative entitled 777: An Urgent Call to Prayer. The Call is for God's people to pray for each of the first seven days in the seventh month ­ July 1-7. Then on the 7th day, July 7, we are to pray and fast for 7 hours. The purpose is...

• For God the Father to restrain, protect, and deliver His people from the evil that has come into our world.
• For God the Son to be exalted, magnified, and glorified in His church, in our nation, and in our lives.
• For God the Holy Spirit to fall on us in a fresh way, compelling the church to repent of sin and our nation to return to faith in the living God, resulting in a great national spiritual awakening. 


I'm asking you to partner with me, and send out the word to everyone on your email address list, or who follows you on facebook or twitter. I will be sending out an eBlast this week and next, which you can access at http://www.annegrahamlotz.com/events/urgent-call-to-prayer. Please feel free to use it, and place your name in the paragraph that includes mine to make it more personal for your constituents:, Feel free also to forward this letter.

I will provide a prayer I have written for each of the 7 days to help unite us in one spirit and one voice as we cry out to God. Those who receive the eBlast are invited to sign up for the daily email prayers. Please be assured there is no other agenda in this initiative. This is not about promoting anything or anyone. This is all about calling God's people together to pray, before it's too late, and judgment falls on our nation. 


Please let me hear back from you as soon as possible. Time is short.
Urgently,

Anne

Blow the trumpet...sound the alarm…for the day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand—Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God... Joel 2:1, 13

• Pray! in the 7th month, July
• Pray! on each of the first 7 days of July
• Pray! and fast on July 7th for 7 hours (of your choosing)

 

Commit to pray 777: http://www.annegrahamlotz.com/events/urgent-call-to-prayer/
http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/churchandministry/anne-graham-lotz-urgent.aspx