Good Things

by E. Christian, mcAlester, OK
Monday, March 19, 2012

GOD SPEAKS TO US THROUGH HIS HOLY WORD
(A prophesy concerning Jesus) 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. - Isaiah 53:5-6(New King James Version).
GOD'S PROMISE TO US FROM HIS HOLY WORD
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. 6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday. - Psalm 37:3-6(New King James Version).

A QUOTE
He who cannot forgive others destroys the bridge over which he himself must pass. - George Herbert -

A THOUGHT TO REMEMBER
The people who are hardest to convince they're ready for retirement are children at bedtime. - From Reminisce Magazine -

NOTES
There were no Good Things last night. I decided to rest. I may start doing that on Sunday night. I did hear from one person who missed them and that was my cousin, Audie. We are having thunderstorms tonight and that is why the Good Things are going out early. I may have to shut down my computer if the lightening gets too frequent. Audie said they received 3 inches of rain today in Oklahoma City. We are expecting rain to continue in McAlester through tonight, tomorrow and maybe part of Wednesday. It has been cloudy today. The rain started here around 4:30 p.m. and has continued off and on since then. It seems the rain has stopped at present but it will start again soon. High temperature today was 80 degrees. I had lunch with Charley. I stopped by Family Dollar store and then on to the post office. I had my nap this afternoon with Beau and Smokey. I put food outside in the storage house tonight but we didn't sit out due to the rain. I watched "trains and locomotives" from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. Don't forget, I always enjoy hearing from you.
The cats are fine. Little Girl is on the back of the couch and Rascal is asleep on the desk by my computer. The other cats are hiding out from the thunder and rain. Everyone is in except Leo and he hides out other places quite often.
I hope everyone has a good Tuesday! I will see you next time.
In Christian Love, Everett.

Daily Jewel

by Pastor Carnell, McAlester, OK
Mar. 19,2012

“How Lost Can You Be?” (Part One)
“Above all else, guard your heart….” – Proverbs 4:23

For the next couple of days I want to do something a little different for the daily message. I will be using an illustration from a book called, “The Journey of Desire: The Journey We Must Take to Find the Life God Offers” by John Eldredge. The name of the story is “The Sea Lion Who Lost the Sea.”
The heart holds the most intimate portions of our life: Our emotions and our desires. We often are warned to not let our emotions rule us, especially when it comes to our relationship with Christ—but there has to a proper median when it comes to this thing called “the heart,” because if God did not want us to use our emotions then He would not have “installed” them as a part of our creation.
Since the heart was created by God—it also belongs to Him. That is why He wants us to give our hearts back to Him so He can fill them and treat them properly...with the care they deserve. When we are lost—it leaves such an incredible void that absolutely nothing can fill. This is why Solomon says, “guard your heart.” The following is part one.

Once upon a time there lived a sea lion who lost the sea. He lived in a country known as the barren lands. High on a plateau, far from any coast, it was a place so dry and dusty that it could only be called a desert. A kind of coarse grass grew in patches here and there, and a few trees were scattered across the horizon. But mostly, it was dust, and sometimes wind, which together make one very thirsty. Of course, it must seem strange to you that such a beautiful creature should wind up in a desert at all. He was, mind you, a sea lion. But things like this do happen. How the sea lion came to the barren lands, no one could remember. It all seemed so very long ago. So long in fact, it appeared as though he had always been there. Not that he belonged in such an arid place. How can that be? He was after all, a sea lion. But as you know, once you have lived so long in a certain spot, no matter how odd, you come to think of it as home.
There was a time, many years back, when the sea lion, knew he was lost. In those days, he would stop every traveler he met to see if he might help him find his way back to the sea. But no one seemed to know the way.
On he searched, but never finding. After years without success, the sea lion took refuge beneath a solitary tree beside a very small water hole. The tree provided refuge from the burning rays of the sun, which was very fierce in that place. And the water hole, though small and muddy, was wet, in its own way. Here he settled down and got on as best as he could.
Had you journeyed in those days through the barren lands, you might have seen the lion for yourself. Quite often in the evening he sould go and sit upon his favorite rock, a very large boulder, which lifted him off the burning sand and allowed him a view of the entire country. There he would remain for hours into the night, silhouetted against the sky. And on the best nights, when the wind shifted to the east, a faint smell of salt air would come to him on the breeze. The he would close his eyes and imagine himself once more at the sea. When he lay himself down to sleep, he would dream of a vast, deep ocean. Twisting and turning, diving and twirling, he would swim and swim and swim. When he woke, he thought he heard the sound waves breaking against the surf.
The sea was calling to him…

Getting lost may be easier than it sounds—and getting back to where we need to be extremely difficult. We must guard against the things that would draw us away from where we need to be (in the Sea Lion’s case, the sea) and into places where we absolutely do not belong.
Is the “sea” calling you right now?

Senior Citizen

by Bonnie David, WC poet
March 19, 2021

Senior Citizen…part 1

 

Alright, I wanna know how I got to be a senior citizen.  And just who can say when I am one I’d like to know?  Some say fifty five, others sixty or sixty two…or sixty five.  If they can’t figure it out then how the heck am I suppose to know when I reach that pinnacle in my life.

 

I confess I don’t know many senior citizens as I’m not into bingo, volunteering or social luncheons. Uh…sorry, that’s stereotyping isn’t it?  But isn’t that how we tend to see our senior citizens?  I freely admit, I haven’t a clue what our senior citizens do to fill their hours or for entertainment.  I must also confess…I don’t wanna grow up!  Growing ‘out and down’ doesn’t seem to be an option as gravity just doesn’t have a sense of humor.  Well maybe it does and the jokes on me?  Sigh……..

 

Not so long ago I was a wife and mother.  Now I’m a widow and a great grandma and somewhere in between the two, I was rushed into a place that is unfamiliar territory.  My heart goes out to anyone who loses a spouse at any age.  Yet the older one is, the harder the single life is…ya just don’t fit in anywhere, especially when you don’t feel old.

 

I’d guess my lifestyle may lean to being on the eccentric side as I’m not drawn to socializing, preferring to live the life of a hermit crab in its shell.  It’s taken me five years to adjust to being a widow and single and I’ve found it’s a world that doesn’t cater much to the older generation.

 

I doubt that I’m alone in not being prepared financially for being single and independent.  Being on a fixed income does have a way of bringing out the creativeness in me though.  Yet, with each passing year, the rising cost of living grips me tighter and tighter.  Sometimes being social isn’t an option…I just can’t afford it.   Yet I am one of the lucky ones as solitude suits me fine.  I’m lucky that I’m easily entertained and dabbling around my house and yard brings me endless pleasure.

 

There are many seniors though, who need people and need outside activities.  What is there affordable for them?  I suppose more than I know yet there isn’t enough, I do know that.  We need an affordable movie theater with decent movies…maybe the oldies but goodies?  We need a little hole-in-the-wall coffee shop where older music drifts from the jukebox, where us older…but not old…folks can gather to enjoy others company without head-banging music drowning out our voices.

 

We need more minature golf courses and whatever happened to croquet?  When did old-time dancing give way to line dancing.  I’m doing good to follow a recipe, let alone a long dance routine!

 

To be continued…

 

(© bldavid)

Good Things

by E. Christian, McAlester, OK
Saturday, March 17, 2012

GOD SPEAKS TO US THROUGH HIS HOLY WORD
9 The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, A refuge in times of trouble - Psalm 9:9(New King James Version).

GOD'S PROMISE TO US FROM HIS HOLY WORD
13 But in keeping with his (God's) promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. - 2 Peter 3:13(New International Version).

A QUOTE
Jesus is not wanted by everyone, but He is certainly needed by everyone. - W. E. McCumber -

A THOUGHT TO REMEMBER
Don't depend on the rabbit's foot for good luck; it didn't work for the rabbit. - From Reminisce Magazine -

NOTES
Well, I asked last night if it would be alright to leave off the notes. I got some answers.
This one from Burlene:
"No, I would hope that you would not leave the notes out of the Good Things. I like everything just the way it is.... B."
This one from Alice: Nope, need the notes!
This one is from Claudia(my great niece): Absolutely NOT! XO
This one from Pat Hessdofer:
"I like the notes just to know what you are doing."
This one is from Michelle:
I find your notes interesting, but as you've said before, the verses from the Scripture and the quotes are the important part. It's nice that you ask your readers' opinion. As for me, any way you want to do it is fine, although I like hearing about your cats and visits from Treva and Libby, and your grandchildren. Then again, I'm a cat addict.
********************************************
I may get other e-mails about the notes but that is enough to let me know that the notes are appreciated. Today has been partly cloudy with a high temperature of 78 degrees and a low temperature of 66 degrees. My houscleaning lady came at 11:15 a.m. and cleaned my house while I had lunch with Charley and Bill. I went to the post office and then came home. Little Girl was on my bed to take a nap with me. One of the windows to my bedroom opens to the enclosed back porch and the window doesn't have a screen. I opened it and the cats were coming and going through that window. I guess Little Girl didn't like that so she came back to her den but Smokey stayed and slept with me. From 5:30 to 7:00 tonight I watched a program of Daniel O'Donnel from the Rhyman autorium in Nashville, Tennessee where the Grand Ole Opry performed before they built Opryland. Anyway, it was a taped program that I had watched once before but anytime I have a chance to watch Daniel O'Donnel, the singer from Ireland, I will watch it. I went outside with the cats at 7:00 p.m. and sat for a little over 30 minutes and read a couple of short stories, watched the cats do their thing and the robins feeding in the vacant lot behind my yard. Last night I told you that I would tell you what I watched last night on television from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. if anyone wanted to know. A couple of people mentioned it in their e-mails and thought I had watched trains or Dr. Billy Graham or Lawrence Welk. But last night from 6:00 to 6:30 I watched the Jimmy Sturr orchestra. This present day orchestra is the closest thing we have to Lawrence Welk and the big bands. From 6:30 to 7:00 last night, would you believe that I watched an old Porter Wagoner program? The notes are rather long tonight but I will say that in addition to the ones I have already mentioned I also had e-mails from Gaetano, Cathy Perks, Geneva, Stan, Patti, Lucille and Audie.
The cats are fine. Little Girl is in the den with me. Rascal was here a little while ago. The rest are around somewhere close, I think
. I hope everyone has a Wonderful Sunday. I will see you next time.
In Christian Love, Everett.

Good Things

by E. Christian, McAlester, OK
Friday, March 16, 2012

GOD SPEAKS TO US THROUGH HIS HOLY WORD
17 Her (wisdom's) ways are ways of pleasantness, And all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who retain her. - Proverbs 3:17-18(New King James Version).

GOD'S PROMISE TO US FROM HIS HOLY WORD
9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. - 2 Peter 3:9(New King James Version).

A QUOTE
God, who foresaw your tribulations, had specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain. - C. S. Lewis -

A THOUGHT TO REMEMBER
If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over? - From Reminisce Magazine -

NOTES
Today has been mostly cloudy with a high temperature of 77 degrees and a low temperature of 66 degrees. I had lunch with Charley. I went to the post office. I went to Walmart for my weekly supplies and came back by the cemetery. I took my nap later in the afternoon without a cat. At 5:00 p.m. I took food and treats out for the cats and sat with them for almost an hour. I came in at 6:00 and watched television for an hour. If you want to know what I watched, send me an e-mail and ask me and I will tell you. Since the last Good Things I have heard from Mary Jo, Geneva, Michele and Alice. I haven't heard from some of you in a long time so I sometimes wonder if you are still reading the Good Things. I don't like to drop people from the Good Things unless they tell me to so if you want to be dropped, just let me know. You also have my permission to forward the Good Things if you want to. I sometimes think about just leaving off the notes. Would that be alright with you?,br /> The cats are fine, same as last time with Little Girl in the den with me and the others around somewhere close.
I will see you next time.
In Christian Love, Everett.