We are zipping on as we continue the journey. Today we have arrived at that highly anticipated end of the work week, for many, and this
Friday happens to find its place on the calendar as,
August 24, 2018. I forgot to inform everyone that my wife has left me. Again. Early yesterday morning. She and her sister are off to see their older brother, Cleon, who lives in northeast Louisiana, to honor him in view of his recent 83rd birthday. I would complain but it would not be appropriate. First and foremost, it wouldn't do any good. And, even more important, she typically has a good reason. Speaking of good reasons, we've been having a good number of people to join our local fellowship of believers each week. They join, then the next Sunday they are presented to the congregation. Recently, we had so many, they took up the first four rows. They mark off the seats as reserved. That meant they took my 4th-row pew. I dutifully backed up to the 5th row and sat myself down. A lady came and stood by me. She blurted out with a tiny bit of edge, "I guess you are taking my pew today." I decided to give her something to think about. No. Not a piece of my mind. I have to keep as much of that as I can. I told her how sorry I was but there were so many people giving their lives to Christ or transferring their memberships to our local fellowship, well, they needed all of that space just to sit them. She was taken aback. (In other words, it not only knocked the sails down on her boat but it threw them in the water.) She then meekly replied, "Well, that is so wonderful, and what a blessing!" You've heard that little saying, "Don't mess with Texas", well, you might not want to mess with me when it comes to pew selection. (Don't get the idea I was cruel or ugly to this lady. I am only pointing out the value of a good reason.)
For Flashback Friday, here's an excerpted piece I wrote eleven years ago. "The part of Louisiana where I grew up rarely had snow. But the times it did, it was magical for us kids. I remember once when I was a young teenager we had perhaps the most snow ever with two or three inches accumulated. Talk about walking in a winter wonderland! We didn’t have winter clothes, therefore, just about everything we had was soaked as we would go out and play and come in and change. We had eaten enough snow ice cream to make us all sick but we were having a ball. We boys, of course, lived to torment girls. My sisters had some friends over that day and it gave us new targets for snowballs. I knew all of the girls there except one who was a new friend and my sister told me it would be advisable for me not to mess with her because she was a rodeo girl. What a laugh! A rodeo girl? Don’t mess with Ann because she might get angry? That was like saying sick em to a dog. Whoever heard of any boy being worried about a rodeo girl? Having made me a huge wet snowball I slipped around the house and then to the back porch where they were all sitting. I came to the corner of the house and with my best Dixie League fastball I let the snowball fly and it caught its target right in the face. A direct hit! Wow! What a shot! But Ann didn’t whimper and scream, she bolted up off that porch and started towards me. There was something about the way she moved that made me aware that I should leave the premises, so I turned and ran as fast as I could in the snow. I could hear her breathing. She was still coming. Ann caught up with me down in the grove of pine trees in a lot beside our house. She brought me down like I was a steer and having pinned me in the snow she began to teach me some rodeo techniques. She was laughing as she smothered me in the snow. She flipped me over and stuck my face into the snow and began rubbing my nose in it. I couldn’t catch my breath and I couldn’t get up. This was not like anything I had experienced before. Finally, she stood up with one foot on me and let out a yell. Everyone had come down to observe my humiliating predicament and they all stood there laughing, everyone that is, except me. I was still trying to catch my breath. I learned at least one lesson that day. No, it wasn’t anything about the feminist movement or equal rights. It simply came down to this, ‘Don’t mess with Ann because she is a rodeo girl!"
Speaking of that incident, my wife absolutely loves to watch the Ninja Warrior competitions. She is, of course, partial to the ladies who participate. She talks to them. Urging them on. Sometimes, she gets loud enough that I have to remind her they cannot hear her. I only mention this because she has always told folks about the way I act when I am watching a sports competition or a NASCAR race. Yes. I have been known to lean forward trying to help get the first down, and, let my racer be in the lead at the end, I will stand and cheer. Yet, like the proverbial boomerang, it may have traveled some distance before it returned, but, wowie zowie, she has now joined the fan crew. That word, of course, comes from being fanatical. It just sounds funny to hear her chanting, "Beat that wall, Beat that wall." At least we can laugh together, and, laugh at each other. As long as it is all in fun I believe laughing together is one of the greatest blessings a couple can enjoy. Let's face it, often our lives are filled with things that are not very funny. Not at all. A spontaneous eruption of a heartfelt guffaw will do any body good. Even the Bible tells us that, "A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones." (Proverbs 17:22) I need to send a note to my grammar correction software, "Stop trying to correct God!" Enough said. Thanks for riding shotgun with me this week. Have a great Saturday and Lord's Day Sunday. With God's provision, I will do my best to meet back up, come next Monday. May He bless us all.
Amen. .....More later.
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