Happy Birthday, brother-in-law Cleon. They don't make em' like that anymore.

Good morning and welcome to Thursday, August 20, 2020. Yesterday was the 85th birthday of the senior member of the wife's family. Her older brother, Cleon, is a man of proven character, integrity, and he has earned by acclimation the title of Good Neighbor. I first met Cleon when I accompanied the wife, my girlfriend at the time, and her family over to Winnsboro, Louisiana to visit Cleon for a Christmas family gathering in December of 1963. My first impression of him was how everyone in the family looked up to him. He was very friendly and made everyone feel at home including me, a shy young fellow who typically wore an embarrassed red face most of the time. He could put almost anyone at ease. Over the years, and as you can tell, it has been a lot of years, he has been true blue. I know. You don't hear that one very much but it does apply to Cleon. The 'true blue' originated back in England in the late 1600s and it was associated with a blue dye that became renowned for how it stayed fast and true. It had a lasting quality that could be counted on. The 'true blue' tag began to be used to describe individuals who demonstrated loyalty and faithfulness. I'm okay that many in today's world would not recognize what it means because in our circle we all do and if the tag fits then Cleon should wear it. Happy 85th Birthday to my 'true blue' brother-in-law.

I was reading some of the fact-checking being done on some of the speeches coming out of the Democratic National Convention, better known as a love fest for liberals. Interestingly enough, the fact-checkers would give very mild criticism to the item they found to be in error and then add ten paragraphs regarding President Trump and how much worse he is than the error they found. Think about it. No doubt many were surprised that news media sources would be fact-checking the democrats. Let me assure you, they were very selective and what people found when they read about it was another opportunity to beat up on the incumbent. The New York Times fact-checking piece ran on, paragraph after paragraph, after saying the former first lady Michelle Obama had made a slight error regarding how families are treated at the border and then went on with their seemingly endless slamming of The President. The democrats feigned their shock and dismay at being fact-checked at all, but, in my opinion, it was pretty much a set-up from the get-go. My point? We do need to keep our eye on the ball. If that metaphor seems odd, look it up. Be vigilant and informed. And, may God help us all.

I've been blessed by folks like Cleon and a handful of others that left a lasting impact on my life. I had a pretty rough go of it as a kid, with the early death of my dad, and, in moving to a rural Louisiana town, however, my grandfather was there to do his best to help us kids. He didn't know anything much about what to do other than to be himself. He had plenty of flaws, but, his core was grounded in his faith in God and his no-nonsense way of taking each day in stride. With his sacrifice in contributing to our upbringing, he passed down a few things that rubbed off on me. It should have been more, but, I know I picked up my work ethic and my commitment to the job at hand. There were many others as well. My father-in-law, Bro.Rawles, who was a country preacher, but, somehow and in so many ways he saw more in me than I ever saw. My brother-in-law, the late Preacher Boy Milton Rawles was always an example of a person sold out to God with such a gentle and sweet spirit. There were many others. Did I deserve them? Probably not, but, I do count all of them as blessings and thank God for His provisions. Amen. .....More later.