To Those of You Born 1930 - 1979

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!

First, we survived being born to mothers
Who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing,
Tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes.Then after that trauma,
we were put to sleep on our tummies
in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles,
Locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode
Our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.

As infants & children,
We would ride in cars with no car seats,
No booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.
Riding in the back of a pick-up truck on a warm day
Was always a special treat.

We drank water
From the garden hose and not from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends,
From one bottle and no one actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon.
We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar.
And, we weren't overweight.
WHY?

Because we were
Always outside playing...that's why!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day,
As long as we were back when the
Streetlights came on.
No one was able
To reach us all day….
And, we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps
And then ride them down the hill, only to find out
We forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes
a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's and X-boxes.
There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable,
No video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's,
No cell phones,
No personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms.
WE HAD FRIENDS
And we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth
And there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt,
And the worms did not live in us
Forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays,
Made up games with sticks and tennis balls and,
Although we were told it would happen,
We did not put out very many eyes..
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and
Knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just
Walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team.
Those who didn't had to learn to deal
With disappointment.
Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law
Was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best
Risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever.
The past 50 years
Have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility,
and we learned how to deal with it all.
If YOU are one of them?
CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others
who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the
lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives
for our own good.
While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know
how brave and lucky their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house
with scissors, doesn't it ?
The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:
"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control,
mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms
tearing up the country from one end to another,
and with the threat of swine flu
and terrorist attacks.
Are we sure this is a good time
to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'

For those that prefer to think that God is not watching over us... ..go ahead and delete this.

For the rest of us...pass this on.

A Small Prayer!

God determines who walks into your life....it's up to you to decide who you let walk away,
who you let stay, and who you refuse to let go..
I need this back. If you'll do this for me, I'll do it for you.
When there is nothing left but God, that is when you find out that God is all you need. Take 60 seconds and give this a shot! All you do is simply say the following small prayer for the person who sent you this.
Father,
God bless my friend in whatever it is that You know they may need this day!
And may their life be full of your peace, prosperity, and power
as he/she seeks to have a closer relationship with you.
Amen.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Have you done something strenuous in the sun & gotten all hot & sweaty? You know, when the heat is almost unbearable, & the sweat is just running off you in rivulets? You want to strip the layers of clothes off, but you can’t, & you can’t go inside to get any relief yet. Can you just feel it??....

Now you know what a woman feels like when she is having a hot flash!

Now picture this happening to you in the middle of church, or in the winter!

Prayer

"Please pray for......"

Some people are "Prayer Warriors." Others just send up a quick prayer & go on with their life.

I recently read a book (Christian fiction) about a half dozen angels who had been sent to watch over a town after a town leader had prayed to God on his deathbed. It made prayer even more real, in that, you saw how these angels would personally take your prayer into the throne room of God & wait for a response, then return to carry out God's answer.

An angel is a messenger of God. He does God's bidding. He WANTS to help us if we will only ask. Ask...Speak out loud....Believe you will hear from God. God SPOKE this world into existence. Jesus did not just place his hands on people & think healing into them. He SPOKE.

The Bible says that Jesus could have called upon 10,000 angels at any time.

So, the next time you pray, think about that angel who is carrying your prayer up to the throne room of God. And know that God will answer....that your prayer is so important to him that he created messengers to go back & forth from Heaven to Earth.

Palm Sunday

On the Sunday before the Resurrection (Easter), Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem on a donkey. The people spread branches of palm trees on the ground shouting, `Hosannah!`
Hosanna means: "save I pray thee; keep; preserve"

Zechariah 9:9 - "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass."

John 12:13,14 - "Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna:Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written,"

The palm was considered a symbol of victory.
"After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all
nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;"
~Revelation 7:15~
The Branches Were:
• The emblem of victory - Revelation 7:9
• Carried at feast of tabernacles - Leviticus 23:40
• Used for constructing booths - Nehemiah 8:15
• Spread before Christ - John 12:13

In the first century after Christ, palm symbols were put on the tombs as a special sign of martyrdom. This was considered victory and triumph for the Christian.

Today, in some churches, palm leaves are brought in and sometimes twisted into crosses. Greek Orthodox Christians receive branches of fragrant bay leaves. The leaves are then used in cooking during the year.


It is said that since the first Palm Sunday the backs of donkeys have been marked with a cross. If you look, you may find a dark stripe of hair down the donkey’s back that is crossed by another stripe which spreads across his shoulders.

Jesus on the Cross

I often wondered about why, at Easter, I'd see a cross displayed with a cloth draped upon it. I thought the cloth represented the Risen Lord. But after going to the Holy Land Experience in Orlando, Florida, I saw the true meaning.

After Jesus died they took a long piece of cloth, wrapped it around His chest, under His arms, and across the horizonal bar of the cross. This held Him in place while they removed the spikes in His hands and feet. Then, after they took His body down, the cloth remained.

Elvis Presley-75th b'day.

It made me think of my neighbors in Sevierville, TN, Rex & Elisabeth Mansfield. Rex was inducted into the army with Elvis, was in basic training with him, & traveled to Germany with him. Elisabeth was born in Bamberg, Germany. She lived in the US for a while after her mother married an American GI when Elisabeth was a teen, then returned to Germany when her step-dad was re-assigned there.  That's when she became Elvis' personal secretary.
Rex & Elisabeth wrote a very interesting book called Sergeant Presley, Our Untold Story of Elvis' Missing Years. In it they tell about their army years together.  And how Elvis meets Elisabeth, "with whom Elvis was romantically linked"...before Priscilla. When Rex began dating Elisabeth (after Elvis met Priscilla), Elvis was not happy.

There are also a lot of pictures of Elvis, Rex, & Elisabeth in the book.

I didn't ask them a bunch of question about Elvis. They seemed more interested in talking about their Christian faith. They are very active in their church in Sevierville!

My Surprise Wedding

For my 17th wedding anniversary, my husband surprised me with a wedding. We had eloped 17 years earlier when I was 17 years old. So I had been married half of my life. I knew nothing about it until 5 PM! We were to leave for a 2nd honeymoon, but I couldn’t understand why we were leaving so late. Usually we’d leave at 5 AM to go on any trip –not 5 PM!

During the months before, if someone slipped up in saying “wedding”, they’d mention Brother & Sister Weaver’s upcoming wedding, a special couple at church who was celebrating their 50th anniversary December 5th.

I had a beautiful wedding dress that fit perfectly. Weeks earlier we girls were all going on a diet. They measured me from my shoulder to wrist & from my waist to the floor (?), but they measured everyone else that way too….

In 1986, after 17 years of marriage, I was just proud that I could still fit into the suit I had gotten married in.

(When my husband went to tell my parents about it, they were relieved to find I wasn’t dying, since he’d come to see them by himself!)

My dad walked me down the aisle, which he didn’t do the first time. Jason, our 15-year old son was best man. I had a beautiful cake & a reception, which I didn’t have the first time. We had bridesmaids, groomsmen, audio & video taping. My husband read a speech which he had written (see below). There were tears in people’s eyes as he read. I just beamed!

Mike's Speech to me for our Surprise Wedding in 1986

If Woman was made for Man as a Helpmate, then I know God had you planned for me. If I had gotten out of God’s will and married someone else, I know I wouldn’t be where I am today.

You’ve never pushed me, only nudged me.

You’ve never criticized, only suggested when I was wrong.

You’ve never kicked me when I was down, only encouraged.

You’ve had confidence in me when no one else did.

You loved me in bitter times, and I hope I can give you a few sweet ones.

You gave me a son that has been the joy of our life, and you’ve taught him the things of God and of life when I didn’t have the time or even know that I should. You let me know when I should spend more time with him, and you’ve always stood behind me when I’ve corrected him.

Our son will be a man soon. In a few years he’ll be off on his own. And our time together will increase. Our focus on life may change somewhat, but your importance to me will increase. My need for you is greater than ever before, and my love for you has grown moment by moment. I can see this in the rest of our lives.

My life would never have been complete without you, and I love you so much. I thank God for letting you put up with me all these years, and I’m looking forward to what God has for us in the future.

I Corinthians 13 & Anthony

Yesterday, after a couple of Anthony’s friends went home, I had a little discussion with him about his attitude.

“Anthony, I didn’t like what happened today.“

“What???? What was I doing???”

“You did not want to share your video game. You didn’t want to change games to what your friend wanted to play. You were talking back to me & not minding me. Shall I go on??”

“Yes, go on.”

So I told him some other things that needed changing.

“But, Mom…….”

Then I sat him beside me & got out the Bible, turning to I Corinthians, 13^th chapter, & read:

⁴ Love is patient and kind. I stopped.

Surprising me, he said, “Go on…”

Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. ⁵ Love is not rude, {pause, with a look toward Anthony, then continued} is not selfish, and does not get upset with others. Love does not count up wrongs that have been done. ⁶ Love is not happy with evil…

“That means you don’t say, “Ha! Ha! Ha! You got hurt.”

“OK, Mom, I get it.”

⁷ Love always trusts, always hopes, and always remains strong.
⁸ Love never ends….. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I stopped those childish ways.

“You’re becoming a man. And I want you to be the best as you grow up.”

“OK, Mom, I get it.”

¹³ So these three things continue forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.

“I love you, Mom!”

Yes, he did get it.

“I love you, too, Son!”

Anthony's bedtime story last night was about King Jehoshaphat defeating the enemy. Beforehand the king called for the people to fast. After telling Anthony that a fast is going without food for a day, he said: "That's suicide! You can't do that! You'll die!"

....2 Chronicles 20:15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.