Hello and welcome to
Friday, September 14, 2018. My wife left yesterday to go to Louisiana to help prepare for her sister's wedding. I will be going tomorrow. I feel very privileged to have been asked to word a prayer of blessing on this couple. This is an exciting time for them and we pray for God's best as Dorothy and James start this new chapter in their lives. They are close to our age and we know that God will be a part of their life together, and, when it is all said and done, that really is what makes the difference.
Here's my flashback, back-in-the-day, posting from
Friday, September 14, 2007: "In 1965, when we moved to Alexandria, Louisiana for me to work out at England Air Force Base, we rented a garage apartment. It was owned by a wealthy optometrist and it really looked good. The furniture was very nice and had probably been used at one time in his huge mansion that was situated in the next block. However, it was a very cold place. They had obviously not put any insulation in the walls or ceiling and we nearly froze to death in that place. One time the pipes froze up in the kitchen with the heaters going. Our eldest was an infant so we had to take extra measures to make sure we kept him warm. I believe we borrowed an electric heater from Granny Mac and used it in the bathroom to help keep him warm. It was a very cold winter that year and we soon found out that a place that looks nice versus having a quality of life are two different things. We didn’t have a television set. We listened to the radio quite often. We played cards. And, we would go out to the movies on buck night. This meant we could watch two full-length movies for one dollar at the drive-in movie theatre. When it was cold we would have to run the car some to heat it up and then turn it off for a while. We kept the baby all bundled up so he was fine but with the windows being cleared, then fogged, cleared, then fogged, it could be quite a hassle but it was entertainment and we typically went maybe once or twice per month. On payday, we would treat ourselves to a hamburger basket at this wonderful little roadside hamburger joint. They made hamburgers the old fashioned way and served them with curly fries. I guess it was like a reward or something but we used to so enjoy eating at that place. This was long before there was a fast food place on every street corner." (I don't know if we were as happy then as we thought we were, but, we did seem to be that way, therefore, I assume we were. We probably didn't know any better. And, based on inflation that $1 buck night bargain would cost $8 in today's currency.)
This has been a challenging week. We've had a lot of rain already with more forecasted as part of the tropical system threatening our shores. We have family impacted by Hurricane Florence as well as others we know who are connected to folks here. We've already had flooding in some areas in our general territory and that's before the heavy stuff gets here. The folks caught by these waters have a common response: Helplessness. The authorities all sing from the same song. "We need improved drainage and better flood management tools, along with more dollars." I hope we all have been praying for those impacted by these weather-related events. The wife and I do not have to imagine how many of these people feel. Our place was pretty much wiped out by Hurricane Ike back in September of 2008. Our insurance covered most of our rebuilding costs and even with that blessing we were devastated in trying to keep on keeping on. Based on our experience, I can join the chorus who confess the truth found in Psalm 124, "
If the Lord had not been on my side...." Even when we were at our wit's end He saw us through. He deserves our thanks, our praise, and our devotion. Okay, thanks to the
blog-ites who have kept up with us this week. May God bless each one as we continue the journey.
Amen. ...More later.
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