Tuesday, December 31, 2002

 
About fifteen years ago Bob and Felice Augsberg took a giant leap of faith and inaugurated the first ever listener supported contemporary Christian music station.
Tonight I loaded eight year old grandaughter Madisen into my car and we began the short journey to Memaw and Poppy's house, a special time with a precious little girl.
The tape I was playing came to an end and she clicked the radio to WAY FM.
I rolled back the moon roof and away we went!
Pistons churning, radials turning, we sped down the interstate with the volume full blast, the wind blowing in her long straight blonde hair.
What a great time.
The love of God and the love of that little girl stuffed the car full.
It's a good thing the top was open or maybe there would have been too much pressure on the inside!
God Bless Bob and Felice, God bless little girls, God bless contemporay Christian music, which is not "of the devil" as one televangelist would have us believe.
Oh yes!
God bless all of you in the new year.
Shalom, Y'all

Tuesday, December 24, 2002

 
"Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or the free exercize thereof"
Geroge Washington, Patric Henry, and others refused to sign the Constitution untill there was a bill of rights to protect the PEOPLE from the GOVERNMENT.
The First amendment does just that!
Although perverted by control freak polititions, bureaucrats and the left wing major media, I repeat, CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW RESPECTING THE ESTABLISHMENT of RELIGION OR THE FREE EXERCISE OF IT!
When a government official or entity prohibits someone from a displaying the ten commandments, a manger scene, etc.
THEY are the ones violating the first amendment, PERIOD!
Shout Merry Christmas from wherever you want!
According to the constitution, it is your right!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, Y'all.
God Bless,
Charlie

Sunday, December 22, 2002

 
"Suffer the little children to come unto me for such is the kingdom of heaven." Jesus Christ

Spring 2001 I boarded a plane with nine year old grandson Max in tow and away we flew to visit aunt Becky and uncle Vernon at their newly acquired farm in the Ozarks.

Today I consolidated some of the photos and scanned them several to a page, into a Kind of photo essay.......and remembered.

"And sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase." Psalms 107:37.

We took this admonition to heart and helped aunt Becky expand her garden area.

"To everything there is a season" Ecclesiastes 3:1.
"A time to cast away stones,"

And so we did, as we worked in the garden.
The soil there is 2% dirt and 98% rock. (Or so it seems.)
" and a time gather stones together." Ecclesiastes 3:5
Wouldn't you know it? We had to load previously discarded stones into a wheel barrow and pile them into a fire ring.
With that accomplished, Max built a fire without aid of charcoal starter or a blower.
He kept it stoked until Uncle Vernon returned from work.
By then there were coals sufficient for cooking and my that meat was good! All the better for having helped.
A list of firsts.
Found the nest of a wild turkey!
Saw the turkey hen and her chicks as they flew into the trees and became invisible (to us).
Explored the entry to the cave near the house!
Fed the chickens!
Discovered the joy of picking and eating wild blackberries!
Rode through a hugh cavern.
PLayed all day at Silver Dollar City.
Tried to operate a VERY BIG mower, and did too, but not for very long!!
Swinging on a vine, eating venison stew, several hours at Bass Pro shops including lunch at "Hemingways"
Slept on the sofa with Ginger. (She keeps your feet warm.)
Saw a lot of deer.
Played with the Hostetler boys on the hay bales and in the creek!
Dinner at Lamberts, home of "throwed" rolls.
Helped Uncle Vernon fabricate the mold and laminate a bow especially for him.
Met Mister Ken of Black Widow archery fame and got a free Black Widow hat!
That is a lot to do in a week!!!
I'd scan some of the photos onto this site if I only knew how. (Someday a teen-ager may take pity on this old grandfather and teach him.)
It's nice to remember.

Shalom





Wednesday, December 18, 2002

 
Pride is seldom delicate;
It will please itself with very mean advantages.
Samuel Johnson

"Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the almighty regard it."
Job 35:13

Have a great Day!!!!!!!!!
Shalom, y'all

Tuesday, December 17, 2002

 
I was thinking again today about the two old pine trees in "our" vacant lot, down by the mile wide river.
Tall and gnarley, they offered more protection from the wind than when they were younger and their song was different; deeper, more throaty, with perhaps a bit of melancohly.
Now they are gone.
Only a patch of grass marks where they once stood, tall and proud, as the branches swayed while the needles "sang" to us in the evening breeze.
Kind'a like people................................Ain't it?

Shalom y'all

Sunday, December 15, 2002

 
"Oh, come let us sing to the Lord: Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto HIm with psalms.
For the Lord is a great god, and a great king above all gods.
In His hands are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is His also.
The sea is His, and He made it: and His hands made the dry land.
O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker."
Psalm 95:1-5 (KJV)

Have a great Lord's day!
Shalom, Y'all

Saturday, December 14, 2002

 
"The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it."
John Ruskin

Footprints on the sands of time are not made by sitting.

"Twenty years from now you will be more dissappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did.
So throw off the bow lines.
Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore.
Dream. Discover."
Mark Twain.

P. S. If you have children, "do" with them.

Shalom, y'all

 
"Worship is not all feeling or falling. It is not all lavish pageantry or emotional display. Worship is a life lived in God's service. Worship is essentially a life style."
Judson Cornwall;
"Worship as David Lived it." (Destiny Image Publishers)

Shalom, Y'all


Thursday, December 12, 2002

 
"Pretty" is the Dalmation who allows my bride and joy of forty years and myself to reside with her.
Although she allows us to stay with her, deep inside she knows we are really the master and mistress.
She obviously takes comfort in having an article of clothing from one of us with her when she sleeps at night.
Last night it was a very nice sweater, a beautiful scarf and a bra.
I was remembering this and other incidents and it got me to thinking about us humans.
We like to surround ourselves with something tangible to remind us of those we love.
Usually it is a photo or a small momento.
We carry around in our hearts and minds the intangibles; the memory of a smile perhaps, or a kind word, or something "cute" someone did.
All of this is good, I suppose, but I got to thinking some more.
About our master.
What do we carry around to remind us of Him?
Not icons and pictures, I hope, but the intangibles; memories of when we found comfort in Him, or snippets of His written word, or..............
There is great satisfaction in having survived the forty years of blood sweat and tears in a marraige.
Great comfort, too in the "children" and their children.
Are you like me?
Do you tend to remember family, children, friends, loved ones etc. and not Him?
Think about it.

Shalom, y'all


Wednesday, December 11, 2002

 
"Little grace is of the same nature and excellency with the greatest degree of grace, for as the very fillings of gold are the same nature of gold, so the least measure of grace is grace."
Johnathan Edwards: sermon 5, "Grace"

Always remember compliments you recieve, forget about the rude remarks.

I have been accused of being racist by a young child in the body of a man whose family came from Haiti.
The conversation revolved around a very nasty and specific situation involveing him.
I told him sin knows no color.
When a person is reminded of their sin and they attack the messenger it is an indication of guilt.

Shalom, Y'all

Monday, December 09, 2002

 
The TV evangelist was caught in sin.
His empire collapsed.
Now he has returned and once again preaches that "contemporary Christian music is of the Devil."

"I know forever
I can stand on Your promises
And hold tight to the garment of the Holy One
I know forever
I can run to Your holiness
And behold the beauty of Jesus

So I come only to glorify
I come 'cause I want to give You my life
I come Lord with a sacrifice of love................"

1998 Mercy Vineyard Publishing.

I guess this is an example of "devilish" contemporary music?
There are those who would advocate that worship music performed with non-traditional instruments is wrong.

Consider King David the "man after God's heart."
He paid people to sing, dance, and play the instruments around the tabernacle night and day.
The instruments were quite different than those we use today.
Maybe we should only worship with those instruments?
I doubt they carried a piano around the outside of the tabernacle.......or an organ.
I think if King David were to come back to earth today he would marvel at the "contemporary" instruments, including synthesized guitars, etc.
He did, after all, invent new instruments for the sole purpose of praising God.
"That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music, like David............."
Amos 6:5 KJV
The difference today is, in my opinion, simply a matter of technology and personal taste.
Sometimes that personal taste is a honky tonk style of piano, as in the case of the fellow who does not like "contemporary" Christian music.

Have a great Day,
Shalom, Y'all






Sunday, December 08, 2002

 
What an incredible world we live in.
Here, on the South West Gulf Coast, a hockey arena!
In an area where your occasional panther or wild turkey can sometimes be seen.
Housed in that arena is a professional hockey team.
Last night was the fourth annual teddy bear toss.
After Duane Harmer scored a power play goal at 11:17 in the first period the incredible scene exploded into pandemonium as
thousands of teddy bears, stuffed animals, and santa clauses flew from the stands.
Like a multi hued snow storm in the tropics they drifted down onto the ice and were scooped up by the Junior Everblades into large plastic bags.
One little girl, bag in tow, digging her skates into the ice, could barely move her precious cargo because she had gathered so many.
Hundreds of them landed in the safety net as enthusiastic, impatient fans hurled them toward the ice while the net descended.
The "stuffies" will be delivered to local charities in time to become Christmas gifts.
Where else but in America !?!?
The evil empire?
Osama and Saddam take note. Here the people act out of love for each other rather than hate.
In the end, love always wins.

Shalom


Tuesday, December 03, 2002

 
From The Book of Florida Wisedom.
"Miami will never be more than a fishing vilage for my hotel guests."
Henry Flagler.

"Only he who believes is obedient.
Only he who is obedient believes."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer


Sunday, December 01, 2002

 
Today is the fortieth birthday of our oldest daughter. Her name is Rennie.
Last night we drove more than a hundred miles to celebrate the occasion and to return seven year old Johnathon to her and her husband.
The forty years in between have been a mountain range of emotional peaks and valleys, pain, agony and triumph.
When she was thirteen she was a softball player. At the end of softball season her mother, brother, sister and I went on vacation to the mountains of Arkansas.
While we were there she complained about pain in her left leg. We inquired about a doctor. There was only one and his office was "Down the road a piece."
When we got to the other side of town we again inquired. "Down the road a piece." was the reply, this time waving back the way we had come.
We finally found him in the middle of town but on a different street!
The doctor examined her and said she probably had twisted her leg playing ball or roller skating; if the pain persisted, have it examined when we returned home.
The pain got worse. We took her to an orthopedic surgen who scheduled surgey to remove a cyst.
The surgery lasted far too long.
When he came out he said: "You are going to take her to Shands Hospital in Gainesville (Florida) you don't have a choice."
He handed us her medical records and told us to not give them to anyone until we meet with Dr. Enneking.
Dr. Enneking took the records, examined her, and met with her mother and me later. He informed us about what he had found and asked: "Do you want to tell her or do you want me to do it?"
We then went into the next room where he described the tumor, entwined with the muscle and ligaments in her leg and explaind the options. Surgery to un-entwine, which probably would result in a leg that would not function well if at all, or remove the leg and replace it with a prothesis.
"Take it off." She told him.
At that moment childhood left.
The next year was full of pain; physical and emotional for her, and emotional for the rest of us.
She had an open perscription for a very powerful and addictive drug, which she would only use when she really needed it.
That year, during the Jerry Lewis Telethon, she walked the neighborhood on her crutches, by herself, and collected money for Jerry's Kids. She would go part way 'round, the pain would get too intense, she would return, lay on her Lambskin and wait for the medicine to take effect, then go again.
In high school she joined the swim team, earned a letter, and never came in last.
Now she is the mother of three of our "incredible edible" grandchildren and works as a physician's assistant in the city where the surgery happened, to which she returned so she could encourage other pediatric amputees.
There is more, but I can't go on except.............
In her fourteenth year the Citizens band radio craze was in full swing and it became her passport to the world.
Her "handle" was Honeydew, and I can still see and hear her, sitting in her room, her remaining leg propped up on a chair, signing off saying "The honeydew is 10-20 around the dial."
An so she is!
Shalom









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