Its Thanksgiving, is it?

They tell me that tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  So I got to thinking:  What do I have to be thankful for?  I am blind in one eye and have about 40% blockage in the other.  I can only hear about a third of what people are saying.  I try to remember things but that becomes a problem more than I would like to admit.  I was even trying to introduce Linda to someone recently and I couldn't remember her name.  Then there are some things I can't do anymore that I would rather not mention here.

I am still thankful, however.  I still have my drivers license.

But tomorrow morning I will get up and have a whole different attitude.  As people arrive for the feast we are going to have, it will dawn on me that God has filled this house with love.  Yes, the food will be scrumptious, the smells will fill the air making all of us slobber, the laughter will make us all feel better, but these are not the important things.  The best are the things that we really do feel thankful for.  You see those smells are from the wonderful things that my wonderful wife has prepared because she loves us.  The laughter will come from the family and friends who have gathered together here to enjoy each other and be thankful together. I know what God has done for me and the ones I love.  He has given Linda and me three fine boys to raise and who have become men who anyone would be proud of.  He has given us daughter-in-laws to also be proud of.  He has given us three granddaughters and one grandson, two great grandsons and one great granddaughter, all of whom we are forever grateful. 

So who needs good eyesight?  I see well enough to see the love.  Who needs to hear everything?  I hear well enough to hear the love.  And anyway, if I don't hear everything I can miss all the trashy gossip.  That is if there is any, of course.

We are not perfect people.  We are just a family who loves each other and who has friends to share it all with.   We will all gather around the table and hold hands while each one remembers all the things that we are honestly thankful for.  And the list goes on and on, too much to record here.

I sincerely hope each of you are happy tomorrow because I am certain that you, too, have much to be thankful for.  And I also hope and pray that that sort of feeling will stay with you forever.

One last thought.  Thank you for reading this stuff I write.  You are truly a friend and I do love you!

How generous are we?

Linda was playing bridge and I was home and bored.  But I didn't have to be for long.  A very good friend of mine dropped by and we talked for a long time.  I can't tell his name because I plan to tell a true story about him.  I will just call him Edgar because I don't know anybody by that name really.

Edgar knew I had been in Kentucky for a while so he was here primarily to catch me up on all the juicy news of this area.  He did, too.  And during the conversation he was sharing a time with me about some people who needed some financial help big time.  He had compassion on them and donated what he felt was a generous amount.  But he then realized that the amount he had given was not nearly enough.  On his way home he was bothered by their need.  He was very much aware that he had given all he could reasonably afford but something  was telling him to give even more.  Enough to satisfy the need.  So he went back and gave them what they needed even though it was going to leave him in a spot himself.  After all, he had to tell his wife what he had done.  He did that and was rewarded with the warmest hug he had ever received.  Together they agreed that everything would work out all right.  Let's see now.  He had given most of his money away and they were looking for the best.  Never going to happen!

But it did!  It was early the next week when out of the blue a new customer came into the picture.  It so happened that it was the largest contract he had ever signed.  Are you crying yet?  I am.

That story made me think of a man I knew at Madisonville when I was growing up there.  His name was Frank.  Frank was always doing for others, even when he thought he couldn't afford it.  Many people turned to him for help and he always came through. I think maybe he was the happiest man in my home town back then. The preacher at our church asked him one time, "Frank how can you afford to give so much?"

Frank would simply look at him and say, "Well, preacher, you see I shovel it out and the Good Lord shovels it in and he has a bigger shovel."

I guess it is true that the Good Lord does look after good people like that.  I remember that I loaned a guy five dollars once and he still owes it to me.  I think I need to be more like Edgar or Frank.

For what its worth, He really does have a bigger shovel.   And He shovels a lot of love, too.  We can all share that!

Back in Florida

Well, we are back.  I have often wondered why it is that I enjoy returning either way.  Maybe it is the trials we face when we get to the other place.  We arrived here to find that for the third straight year we had no phone.  Linda called AT&T on her cell phone and the woman she talked to told her right away that our phone was working because her computer said so.  Linda said that that was strange because she was sitting right next to our phone and it did not ring when the help desk called.  After four days we had a tech man come and after an hour or so he said that it was a problem in the line and that he didn't fix those sort of things.  He called the office and they said that there would be another man here in two days.  He was.  And after several hours he said that the line to our house was shot but that he had fixed it.  But the phone still didn't work.  So he called the office and they said that there would be a third man here the next day ti fix the problem. He came and he fixed it.  Folks, I am really thrilled with the efficiency of AT&T.  Today I plan to talk with the AT&T people as well as Comcast to see where we can get the best deal.  But to tell the truth we are not expecting either to be very cooperative. I think that I will apply for a job with one of them.  It is obvious that you do not have to be very smart and laziness seems to be a prerequisite for working there.I think I may qualify.

I wanted to be nice to the people I talked to so I told one of them that I thought that she sounded so sweet to be so stupid.  I am sure I made her day.  And you thought I was a nice person, didn't you?  I can clear that up, too.  Just ask my wife.

I promise to behave when and if you come back tomorrow.  I am going to make a special effort to be kind to someone today.  Right now I am going in and thank Linda for the wonderful breakfast she cooked for me this morning.  Then I will give her a big hug and kiss and go on and feel guilty all the rest of the day.

I love you,too, whoever you are! 

What do you think?

Linda and I just got back from Kentucky.  We were greeted by a lot of friends already but I still miss the ones in Kentucky.  The summer went by too fast for me.

We were first greeted by Clif.  He is leaving town to see some of his family but he stopped by here to give us our new study book for the 7:14 group.  It is on prayer.  I read a bit of it and it brought up some really good memories of an experience in my life.  Would you like to hear about it?  Well, if not, please quit reading now because I am about to share it. 

When I was around sixteen years old I wanted to talk to my dad about something. I don't remember now exactly what it was but I remember thinking at the time that it was very important.  It was sometime around income tax time so I knew he would be very busy if I went to his office.  But I went anyway.  When I got there it was what I had expected.  He was in his office surrounded by several busy looking people.  I was certain that he would be too busy to listen to me.  His secretary wasn't there at the moment so I peeped in to his office to see just how busy he was.  He saw me over the shoulders of the ones in there with him.  And this is what I remember his saying:  "Gentlemen, you must excuse me for a few minutes.  My son is standing outside the door and I think he wants to talk to me about something."  Then he stood up and walked to the door and came out to see what it was that I wanted.  I all of a sudden realized that I was more important to him than the business that he was conducting.  And I recall now what a wonderful dad he was.  I came first as far as he was concerned.  As I was reading the lesson for our group and recalled that story it dawned on me that that is the way our Heavenly Father is.  Whenever we want to talk to him he is ready to listen.  As hard as it is to imagine we are more important to him than we can ever believe.  And so now I talk to Him the same way I talked to my earthly dad.  And He listens. 

This blog is not meant to be a sermon but things I just wish to share. It is just that I like talking to God and think maybe you might enjoy it, too, if you don't already.

Tell someone you love them today.  I really believe that is what God really wants to hear from us.  And that is a good way to show our love for him as well.