Praise God
October 16, 2009 (Friday)
I’m doing great now. The eye is healing well and gets better every day. My thanks to those who have expressed concerns and offered prayers for me. God bless you.
A new trend is being seen in our country: old-fashioned canning. I always heard, “You eat what you can and you can what you can’t.” A reason for this activity is the presence of gardens in which people are growing their own food. Reasons for canning include the ability to limit sugar and salt, with the knowledge that it’s healthy food you are “putting up,” and the fact that it tastes great.
In 1968 (where does the time go?) Wanda and I spent a week with the Oletha Baptist Church, which asked me to preach in a revival meeting. (Wanda had been born and raised in that community and that church had given me, at age 20, the privilege of being the pastor.) At the end of the week, they gave us an old-fashioned “pounding.” Most of the items given to us were home-grown and canned. Our station wagon was loaded down with food that we later enjoyed for a long time. All of it was planted, cultivated, harvested and preserved by loving hands of people with loving hearts. I tell you, that was something that was very special.
Thirty-four years later, that church provided a meal for Wanda’s family when she passed away and was buried in the cemetery there. Years ago, when Wanda and I married in 1953, that same church gave us a wedding shower and some of those gifts are still in my home today. I find myself thinking back over my life a lot lately, giving thanks to God for the wonderful people in every church I served at Groesbeck, Oletha, Lampasas, Briar, Kosse, Dallas and Rockport. I found a bonus after retirement in the churches at Refugio, Ingleside and Houston. Not to mention the many places where I was given an opportunity to sing or preach for a day, a week or longer, in Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio. Mississippi, California, Oregon, Mexico, Jamaica, and Okinawa. As the song says, “I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God.” I love that old song, “Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love, the fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.” And we must not forget the Doxology, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise Him Above ye heavenly host, Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.”