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By Ruth Gadberry
Did you wake up Monday morning and find yourself in a brand new month? June, the month in which summer officially begins. When we get through June we will be half way through 2020; can you believe that? Is this year just whizzing by for Ruth and seems to be going slower for most of you?
How does the weather this week suit you? No rain so far but the weather people say we might have a chance for showers about Tuesday. Just little showers though, not soaking rains. Which is okay. The ground is still pretty well soaked.
Hopefully we won’t use up all our allotment of rain right now but will save some of it until summer time when it will definitely be needed and appreciated. The calendar hasn’t officially said it was summer yet – not for a couple of weeks or so- but the temperature makes you think it’s already arrived.
Aren’t we supposed to have temperatures up into the 90’S this week? There is also a possibility it might even climb above the 100 degree mark. If we have a week of dry weather we’ll be wishing for showers. You know how we are; never satisfied with the weather we receive.
Ah! Worship services back inside the church building again! Maybe it took a few weeks away to make us appreciate what we hadn’t really appreciated before. Things were a bit different. Everything was arranged for social distancing.
Every other row of chairs was blocked off so no one would sit there. Also, folks were encouraged to leave lots of space between worshippers. You know, not sit together with friends and that sort of thing.
Still more differences. The computer had a virus or some such thing. Do you think it might have been the coronavirus?
Anyway, hymn books had to be used instead of the words being up on the screens. The older worshippers rather enjoyed the old time hymns and the hymn books.
Yes, the hymns were just a bit draggy but it would have been different if Ronny had been there on the piano or keyboard. She keeps things lively. Roy and Ronny make a good pair at keeping songs lively. It seems to be a bit more difficult to lead the singing with just a guitar and not a piano to keep things going smoothly.
As JC and Ruth were leaving the church Sunday morning, they met Loyd and Rickie, who were just arriving for the later service, the one for the younger people.
Loyd, who are you kidding, coming for the younger people services? With all your aches and pains and this and that do you really think people will believe you belong in the younger people services?
Rickie might manage it but Loyd? No way! On second thought, go for it Loyd. Loyd has already said he likes the – what do you call it, Loyd? Wap, wap, wap music? He likes it better than the old, much loved hymns.
So, go for it as long as you can get by with it. Could it be that Loyd just doesn’t want to get up in time to make it for the 9:30 services? Oh well.
The church is in the process of deciding what to do about Falls Creek and other church activities. The camp will be closed as far as the usual camp activities go.
However, if a church, or churches, wants to do things on their own they can still use the facilities. Like a retreat or some such thing. The church would have to do their own activities, programs; all that sort of thing. Plans haven’t been made for that as of yet.
Also in the planning is returning to Sunday School, Wednesday night Bible study and prayer meeting and youth activities, running the busses for the kids, Wednesday night meals for the kids and all the activities they were involved in. Decisions, decisions.
In the meantime, it’s great to be back in church, even if it isn’t yet the way it used to be. Maybe one of these days… Hopefully that will be really soon!
The COVID-l9 rages on, with more conformations of the disease, more deaths, etc. Look at the number of people who have survived the disease and are back at work, play, and whatever they were doing before the virus attacked them.
More people are dying from the flu or other problems than from the coronavirus. It’s definitely a serious problem and one we should do everything we can do to keep safe and keep others safe. The best solution hasn’t been found yet.
Lil, are you really home now? That’s what Ruth heard Sunday morning at worship services. That you were home but someone is coming in to do the physical therapy thing with you.
So Ruth heard, your leg still isn’t working as well as it should. Do you think your hip replacement has anything to do with the current problem? Is the therapy helping?
We’re talking to God about you Lil, and asking Him to help you overcome this broken leg problem as quickly as possible. Shouldn’t you be out playing golf or something now? Hurry and get well. You are loved!
The nursing home still isn’t allowing visitors and it must be terribly lonely for the residents who can’t even visit with their families. JC and Ruth think of Sis daily and pray for her. Sis, they’ll be back to see you as soon as possible.
As you pray this week, remember the families of the four young men from Durant who were killed in a vehicle accident last week. Some of you know firsthand how those families are suffering.
Remember also the man responsible for their death and for his family. He would probably be willing to give his life for theirs if he could do that. The experience will haunt him all his life; he and his family are suffering too. You have the privilege of talking to Almighty God about all of them.
Last Friday Beth and Ray were chosen to be entertained all day by Brooklyn and Carter while Zack and his Dad played cowboy and then worked on the floors in Roy’s house. Brooklyn and Carter arrived Friday morning and didn’t slow down all day.
They drove the chuck wagon; somehow they managed to drive while looking around in every direction except the direction they were going. Do you know other people who drive like that? Carter, so it seems, drove into a tree.
Fortunately Uncle Ray was handling the gas and brake so he only nudged the tree. They asked Aunt Beth if she would come after them if they fell into the pond and she told them, no, they would just have to swim out. ‘But we can’t swim!’ Then maybe you’d better not fall in !’
They collected things to take home with them. A Daddy-Long-Legs, a lizard; part of its tail broke off when Carter picked it up. A jar of worms; Zack drew the line at the worms so they returned them to Aunt Beth’s flower bed. But they really did want to use them to go fishing.
They collected rocks to take home. Carter’s favorite was a BIG rock, too big for him to lift. Carter gave part of Aunt Beth’s sandwich to the Daddy-Long-Legs. Aunt Beth said it was a Mamma Daddy-Long-Legs so Carter searched the yard to try to find a Daddy, Daddy-Long-Legs so they could have some baby Daddy-Long-Legs.
Fortunately – or unfortunately – he couldn’t find one. They watered plants, drew pictures on the sidewalk with sidewalk chalk, and did all sorts of interesting things. They saw some deer and Carter immediately asked, ’Where’s your gun? Shoot it!’ ‘You can’t shoot it; it isn’t hunting season.’ ‘But it will be in a day or two!’
Not that they would shoot the deer anyway. They’d much rather watch them play around the yard every day.
They weren’t ready to go home when their Dad and Grandma came for them. They didn’t even get to watch TV or play with Uncle Ray! Sitting in front of him, driving the chuck wagon wasn’t playing!
And where was Momma Amber all this time? At home studying hard for a test. Aren’t you getting certified to teach biology this fall Amber?
After the kids left, Beth and Ray remembered all over again that God really knew what He was doing when he gave children to YOUNG parents, not older parents! But they really did enjoy the day with the kids. And they noticed, again, that the quiet little boy Carter used to be has been replaced by a Carter who never stops talking. He didn’t come with an ‘off’ button.
What would you like to be when you grow up? President of the United States? How would you like to be the President of the United States right now, today?
It seems that everything he does, someone – a whole bunch of someone’s -is quick to tell him how he is doing everything wrong, what he should have done, how he messed up on this or that or on everything. He can’t win for losing!
Maybe this coronavirus thing has brought out the worst in people and they’ve passed it on to the President and it’s all his fault.
Okay, look at the economy; it’s gone downhill fast. Businesses have been closed, people laid off from their jobs, businesses gone bankrupt, unemployment rising higher and higher every day. And it’s all the President’s fault because he closed down the nation.
More people are testing positive for the virus and that’s the President’s fault too. He should have closed down everything sooner. And not started opening up things again. It’s his fault for restricting travel. And it’s his fault for allowing travel to go on and people to come into our nation.
See? It’s a no-win situation. So maybe you’d best think of something else to be when you grow up. Being the President doesn’t seem to be all that much fun!
And in the meantime, you can do what you can do to keep yourself and others safe from the virus. And you can do what you can do to help the economy. And you can pray for your President and for all those in our government.
Ask God to give them wisdom in the decisions they must make. Pray for humility where it’s needed, determination where it’s needed, wisdom to know what to do and courage to do it.
Pray that our President and those who help him in decisions concerning our nation will put their trust in Almighty God, seek His guidance, and follow His leadership. See? You can be a big help to our President!
Another big problem facing our nation today is the riots in every state. When people feel that they have been treated unjustly, they have a right to protest. To let the law officials and everybody else connected with the situation know how they feel and if they feel they have been treated unfairly.
However, they don’t have the right to burn, and/or destroy property, cause death or injury, loot, steal, and do all the other unlawful deeds and damage that are being done. People who are law abiding citizens one day and doing all the destruction they can the next day aren’t doing themselves any favors.
And the people who are really responsible for the riots aren’t even from the community in which the problem occurred. It seems that you can find professional riot leaders anywhere there is a problem.
These people are paid to come in, stir up the people to mob gangs, get the burning and destructions going, and then to leave town and leave the local people to face the consequences.
Does that sound fair to you? The respect people had for their neighbors can be gone in a minute when good people become a vicious mob.
Here, again, you can help in the situation by praying for all these people.
The cows have so much grass in the pastures they can play hide-and-seek in it and they still want to go visiting. Don’t they say ‘the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence?’ Or the other side of the creek?
The courage to speak must be matched by the wisdom to listen.
