SAY WHAT?

Our 15 year old grandson is a very picky eater. Food cannot touch any other food on his plate and he completely eats one type of food before moving on to the second, etc. He only wants pickles on a cheese burger.

I recently went through a fast food restaurant drive through and slowly explained his special order for a pickles only for his cheese burger. When I got to the pay window I was asked: "Do  you want cheese on your cheese burger?" 

Sometimes I think I am being followed by the America's Funniest Videos film crew!!!!!!

LOTS, AND LOTS OF DISAPPOINTMENTS IN LIFE!

While shopping in a Barnes & Noble Book Store in OKC, I made my way to the Self Help section in the DVD department. They had titles like: How to shave 6 strokes off your golf game; How to Build a Patio;  How To Maintain Your Car; and the one I bought, How To Deal With Disappointment.

When I got home, I immediately opened the plastic DVD case---the DVD Disk was missing!!!!!

HOW POOR WERE YOU---IN COMPARISON?

I ran across these and thought you might want to use them next time the "So Poor" stories start:

"I was once so poor I didn't know where my next husband was coming from."

                                   ----Mae West

"I started out with nothing and I 've still got most of it."
                                    ----Groucho Marx

"I was so poor, the lady next door gave birth to me."
                                     ----Lee Trevino

"I never had a penny to my name; so I changed my name."

"I was kidnapped by the mafia and they cut off my right hand little finger and included it with a ransom note to my folks. My father sent back a note that said, "I demand more proof!"

                                      ----Rodney Dangerfield

"My family was so poor that Blues song writers used to come to our house when they experienced writer's block."
                                       ----Otis Lee Crenshaw 

"We lived in such a poor neighborhood our paper boy had his younger brother ride shot gun with him."

"We lived so far back in the sticks we could not pick up the Grand Old Opera on our battery radio until Tuesday night." 

We were so poor on Saturday night we drew straws to see who got to used the Number 2 Wash Tube bath water first."

            ----Glenn C. Peck (Vanity still haunts me!)




TOTALLY UNRELATED: I ask that you help me increase the number of people reading the Blog. My long absence has all but stopped regular visits to the Blog. I'm alive and well and want to keep at this, IF there are enough readers.

Here's a possible way to help: Email not only our classmates, other former PCHS students, and friends and family with the link to the Blog.

HOW TOUGH WAS PCHS---IN COMPARISON ?

I'm always looking for quotes that I can use in ministry and this Blog. Also, they help me keep my grand kids laughing: Here's a few on how tough some schools were:

"I read Shakespeare and the Bible and I can shoot dice. That's what I call a liberal education."

                               ------Tallulah Bankhead

"I wont say our school was a tough school, but we had our own corner. We used to write essays like What I'm going to be IF I grow up!"

                                                              ----Lenny Bruce

"In our school you were searched for guns and knives on the way in and if you didn't have any they gave you some."

                               ----Emo Phillips

"In our school we had such few students we didn't have a class clown, we just took turns."

        ----Glenn C. Peck (Vanity is a horrible thing!)

TOTALLY UNRELATED: I ask that you help me increase the number of people reading the Blog. My long absence has all but stopped regular visits to the Blog. I'm alive and well and want to keep at this, IF there are enough readers.

Here's a possible way to help: Email not only our classmates, other former PCHS students, and friends and family with the link to the Blog.

FIFTY YEARS LATER--ANNIVERSARY !

THIS IS A VERY GOOD, AND I THINK FUNNY, STORY! FEEL FREE TO SHARE WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY.

A couple celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary by returning to their Honey Moon hotel.

The wife said, "Honey, when we were first married you stroked my hair." The husband immediately started gently stroking her hair.

She continued, "Honey, when we were first married you cuddled next to me." The husband immediately started cuddling next to her.

The wife was so pleased with her husband's prompt response she said in a low voice, "Honey, when we were first married you nibbled on my ear." The husband immediately got out of bed.

She asked, "Where are you going?"

He immediately replied, "To get my teeth!"

TOTALLY UNRELATED: I ask that you help me increase the number of people reading the Blog. My long absence has all but stopped regular visits to the Blog. I'm alive and well and want to keep at this, IF there are enough readers.

Here's a possible way to help: Email not only our classmates, other former PCHS students, and friends and family with the link to the Blog.

 

SINCE GRADUATION IN APRIL 1959

I am not a prophet or the son of a prophet. However, I can make some educated guesses. This Post is a brief compilation of my guesses. Am I right?

1. Some of our classmates and their families have experienced great pain and sorrow.

2. Some have experienced unparalleled joy at the birth of children, grandchildren, and even great grandchildren, and their many achievements.

3. Some classmates have remained close to their birthplace while others have had many different addresses in our great nation and world.

4. Statistically, some classmates have had to deal with addiction in their family. This is very, very hard to deal with. If possible, guide them toward recovery.

5. Some classmates have had to live with the reality of their children or grandchildren living alternate lifestyles.

6. All of us are coming to terms with our own health problems and our own mortality.

7. Our generation, as a general rule, have placed high value on the marriage vows.

8. All of us cannot change a thing in our past. The film has been developed. We can, with the Grace of God, change how the story will end.

DO SOME OF THESE APPLY TO YOU?????

FIRST SATURDAY IN MAY

Put a Kentuckian in prison, at the bottom of the ocean in a sub, on the crest of Mt. Everest, or on the International Space Station and he or she will quickly identify the significance of the first Saturday in May as the Run for the Roses---The Kentucky Derby!

The Derby is billed as the fastest two minutes in sports. Dreams are realized or shattered. Fortunes are won or lost. Names are pushed to the forefront or forever lost in obscurity. Owners and trainers offer not excuses or brag too much if their mount wins or looses.

Large hats adorn all the female race observers. TV talking heads and rail bird touts have it all figured out until the track announcer says "They are off!!" Horse racing in general has steadily lost fans. Indian casinos with off track betting have had an adverse impact on attendance.  I have only been inside one track---Phoenix Downs. You get to see the drunks at the track that are not shown on TV. I am told the infield at the Derby has serious drinkers and partially clothed females.

My Dad who knows nothing about horse racing becomes an expert on the First Saturday in May.  

I REALLY REGRET ......

Have you ever said to someone, or yourself, "I really regret.........(Fill in the blank)"

What follows is, in my estimation, one of the most interesting Post that I have made. Please read the entire Post.

By a chance of providence I opened a book of poetry that I keep by my bedside and it opened at the following poem:

 "Tears, Idle Tears"  --Alfred Lord Tennyson

   Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,
In looking on the happy autumn-fields,
And thinking of the days that are no more.

   Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail,
That brings our friends up from the underworld,
Sad as the last which reddens over one
That sinks with all we love below the verge;
So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more.

   Ah, sad and strange as in dark summer dawns
The earliest pipe of half-awaken'd birds
To dying ears, when unto dying eyes
The casement slowly grows a glimmering square;
So sad, so strange, the days that are no more.

   Dear as remembered kisses after death,
And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feign'd
On lips that are for others; deep as love,
Deep as first love, and wild with all regret;
O Death in Life, the days that are no more!

1. A recent survey of senior adults produced the following items, by percentage of most mentioned:

   a. Education  32 %--regrets for not continuing or regrets for studying the wrong subjects

   b. Intimacy   15 % (Use your imagination here!) 

   c. Spiritual Issues   1.2 %  ---the low ranking of this item among senior adults really shocked me.

2. Another survey of adults 19-103 years of age revealed different regret rankings than the one above: (Youth must have it's day!)

    a. Romance   20%

    b. Family Issues   16 %

    c. Education     13 %

    d. Career      12 %

    e. Money    10 %

    f. Health     6 % 

3. What follows is something most people never think about. What do people who are dying regret? (In order of most mentioned)

     a. Being more true to myself rather than others expectations

     b. Didn't spend so much time at work

     c. Courage to express feelings

     d. Stayed in touch with friends

     e. Let myself be happy

(ALL RESEARCH FOR THESE PERCENTAGES VIA WEB)

We cannot spend the rest of or lives looking in the rear view mirror. But we can make some changes in the time we have left.

Please ask a classmate to start, or continue, reading the Blog !!!!

    

 

 

THE REAL WORLD

This Post is to remind all of us that no one is above or beyond temptation. It also says we have a spiritual obligation to pray for people living in THE GREY BAR HOTEL (Prison).


TV and the movies often get the violence in prisons very close to the real world. What is absent is the smell, the cat calls, screams, and even crying. Also not shown are the few precious photos prisoners have of their family. For some the photos are all that keeps them going. The homemade tattoos catch your eye: Some are for gangs, others for remembering dead friends and family members, some even attempt to tell a prisoner's life story.  It is not known how many get serious skin infections from this Jail House Tattoo Parlor. 

Known Child Abusers are held down and given a facial tattoo that lets others know of his past. Many never live out a year. Prisoner's are very proud of their kids. Children are but a few things that still has value to the prisoners.

Also not shown on TV and the movies is the GED and other in house education programs that fills time and helps get some ready for release. Most first time criminals do not have a high school diploma. Each prison (State & Federal) has a very large law library. Those permitted to use the library probably would make a good lawyer. Mostly they study the appeals and parole process and even prepare draft briefs for their lawyers.

I must also mention that chaplains play a key role in the lives of many who are locked up. The chaplains are very, very special ministers. In the lock up many find Christ and try to help others do the same. They are swimming up streams because the gangs have such strong appeal.

Hopefully, the readers of this Post have never been incarcerated or have family members beyond bars.


Sadly, I currently have four church members behind bars. It is my firm belief that IF Jesus could return without notice he would go the prisons first!

WELL, IT MIGHT HAPPEN.....

PLEASE EMAIL OUR CLASSMATES AND LET THEM KNOW I AM STILL MAKING POSTS

Maybe we didn’t get the updated info on some of the songs we loved. Here is my version of what might have happened:

BLUEBERRY HILL became a nuclear waste dump that glowed at night. Could be seen 30 miles away!

The HEART BREAK HOTEL was closed by the Health Dept. because a HOUND DOG carried in a bed bug infestation!

LOVE LETTERS IN THE SAND lasted until the BP oil platform disaster covered them!  

PEGGY SUE continues to make an annual Feb visit to an Iowa cornfield and places a single red rose on the exact spot where the music died.

WHOLE LOTTA SHAKIN’ GOIN’ ON became the official theme song for the U.S. Earthquake Monitoring Center!

CHARLIE BROWN continued to smoke and is near death but he makes trips to schools to warn kids of the dangers of smoking.

WAKE UP LITTLE SUZIE did wake up is now a national ad executive for a national mattress company.

YOU SEND ME was adopted by the US Apollo astronauts as their official motto.

HONEY COMB became a breakfast cereal that kids love and moms hate.

LONG TALL SALLY signed a long term WNBA contract with millions of dollars in endorsements.

BLUE SUEDE SHOES became a standard part of wedding tux outfits.

A WHITE SPORTS COAT is part of the uniform for male health inspectors.

That’s enough for now. Maybe more later!

"REPORTS OF MY DEATH ARE GREATLY EXAGERATED!"--Mark Twain

After surviving a Perfect Storm this Blog is once more alive and well! Brief “weather report”:

1.   Our family has recently experienced two major medical emergencies. (Comment---911 is very, very fast in Shawnee!)

2.   Desktop computer is still in the process of being relocated. Laptop will not connect to internet. Broadband modem stopped working.  It was replaced by an ATT provided modem/WI-FI combo. I have enough working to revive the Blog. Can’t keep my classmates waiting!  (Vanity and pride are a constant enemy of the Soul.)

3.   Extremely hot weather---30 days over 100 degrees---and several large wildfires in OK and our county has kept us glued to the TV. Many, many homes destroyed. Dollar loss immense, so far just one fatality. Emotional loss beyond estimate!

AS I REPORTED IN AN EARLIER POST, “THINGS THAT HAVE NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE HAPPEN ALL THE TIME !”

"GONE WITH THE WIND"

As I prepare this post, the all-time great classic "Gone With The Wind" is being shown on TCM.


Here's a couple of true related stories:


1. At Purdue, I was friends with a young (16 year old high school grad) genius from Ruth, KY. He went to see the movie while at Purdue and when intermission came, he thought the movie was over and left! This super star became a VP with IBM!


2. Also at Purdue, I had a very good friend who I asked to come visit me during the summer. "Just ask anyone in Jennings Co., they will give you directions." The very night he came, I had taken my wife-to-be to see the movie. I got home around 1:30am. There was my friend talking with my Mom and Dad. I was embarrassed and my folks were upset at me. My friend said he asked a number of people where I lived. Finally he found a person who gave directions. He said, "You must be pretty good because the sheriff had never heard of you!"

BLOG HACKED-----All Clear Now

I have spent close to a month putting the blog back together. Good to go.

WOW ! What Spiritual Insight !

A woman in the community where I pastor came to know Christ. She had a long, long history of drugs and trouble with the law. What a change Jesus made!!!!


She recently told me, "I was walking around Lost and now I am working hard to be missing!"


On the surface this may she not seem to make sense. But think about: She was Lost, separated from Christ. On her way to a real Hell. Then she met the Master and now she is awaiting His return to take His church away!!!!!

• In over 30 years of ordained Christian ministry and many years of study, I have never heard a more concise, profound, and meaningful statement of the change Jesus has wrought.

"Jesus Loves The Little Children Of The World"

During research for a recent sermon I discovered some frightening statistics about our children. It should break our hearts and demand better performance by our child protection agencies. Consider:

* A report of child abuse is made every 10 seconds

* More than 5 children die everyday as a result of child abuse 

* About 80 percent of abused children that die are under 4 years of age

* 50-60 percent of child deaths due to maltreatment are not reported as such on death certificates


* 90 percent of child abuse victims know their abuser


* Child abuse happens at all sociological, ethnic, cultural, all religions and levels of education


* 30 percent of abused and neglected children will later become abusers of their own children


* 80 percent of 21 year olds that were abused have at least one psychological disorder


* Estimated cost of child abuse and neglect 2007 is $104 billion


* 1/3 to 2/3 of child maltreatment involves substance abuse


* Parents who abuse alcohol and other drugs are 3 times more likely to abuse their children


* 2/3 of people in treatment for drug abused reported being abused or neglected as children


* 14 percent op all men in prison were abused


* 36 percent of all women who were abused as children are 59 percent more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, 28 percent more likely to be arrested as an adult, and 30 percent more likely to commit a violent crime


* 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 10 boys will be sexually abused

You Don't Say !!!!!!

DURING OUR JUNIOR OR SENIOR YEAR WE ATTENDED THE ANNUAL CAREER DAY AT NORTH VERNON H.S. THE GUEST SPEAKER WAS TO BE A HIGH LEVEL REP FROM GREYHOUND BUS COMPANY. HE COULD NOT MAKE IT; SO HIS SPEECH WAS READ BY SOME LOWER LEVEL GREYHOUND SUIT. THE RESULT WAS AMAZING!


It was apparent that he had never previewed the speech. He would stop from time to time and express amazement at what he was reading. Few paid any attention. Both students and the speaker were very glad when this torture came to an end. 


I cannot remember the subject of the speech. I did remember the bus ride home. Guess I always will.