Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Pa Joe was a Gift


Pa Joe was a gift. God gives us many gifts. I am thankful for the gift of memory that God has given us. Through this gift I can remember some really good times and good friends. After I found out about his passing, I was remembering fond memories I had of him. He was a gift that God gave to many of us. He was a gift God gave to his wife Mollie Sue. He was a gift God gave to his children. He was a gift to his grandchildren. He loved each one very much. He was a gift God gave to me. I was very privileged to have known him. First as a future father in law. Needless to say, I was intimidated by him when I first started visiting over there. He was kinda hard to understand with a chew of Levi Garret. Many times I just nodded at what he said, though I didn’t really know what he was saying through that chaw. But we quickly became friends as we found common ground in the Air Force. He had retired from the Air Force a few years before and I had my sights set on joining in a few years after graduation. Many of our conversations revolved around this. We both enjoyed football. We would talk about the Saints and the Cowboys. Baseball, I never figured out if he hated or liked the Yankees. But he would always talk about them, not in a bad way, but we would talk about George Steinbrenner and the antics of the team. I really think he liked them. Once I entered the Air Force, we could really talk shop. I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about until I had entered. He was always interested in what was going on in the Air Force. After I got out of the service and moved back, we had to make ends meet in whatever way we could. That included working on our own cars. He was the king of the shade tree mechanics. We did what we had to, to keep the cars running. I was mechanically inclined, but clueless once it got passed plugs and filters and other minor repairs. He had worked on engines all his life. Even in the Air Force he worked on airplane engines. As I said we didn’t have a whole lot, so if we needed a tool or a part, we would manufacture (jerry rig) something. He was good at this. I would help him with some of his vehicles. Including “The Tractor”, that he purchased from a farmer that was mad at it because it kept backing him into the creek. It had a few homemade manufactured parts on it also. I remember having to rebuild the engine in my truck. There is no way I would have done it without him there to show me what to do. Ugh, he made a good supervisor. Well we got it working and it ran for more years to come. Eventually we had to rebuild the transmission on my son’s blazer. We got him over to the house to help. I am not so sure any of us knew what we had tackled there. We got it together though. As I said, he loved his kids. And he loved his grandkids. Who can forget him saying “Once upon a dime” and our kids saying, no that’s not right. Joe never seemed to be in a hurry. But I have an image in my head from what my kids told me. When the four wheeler caught on fire, they were amazed to see him jump off the porch and run with a fire extinguisher to put it out. . I will never forget Christmas mornings, when the kids would take the presents to him for him to open. I will never forget going fishing with him. The lake was kind of on the low side and the wind blew us into an area that was too shallow for the motor to be used. So we used the trolling motor that was not bolted to the front of the boat. I think we must have spent an hour going against the wind trying to find the channel so we could use the main motor. Finally someone came along and showed us where the main channel was at. He was very punctual. He would pull that pocket watch out grab his thermos and head off to work. Just like clockwork every time. It had been a few years since I had talked with him, but when he was in the hospital down at Bernice, I ran down there and it was just like old times. We talked about the same old things just like always. Well I could go on, but Pa Joe was a kind soul who would help anybody. We love you and will miss you Pa Joe.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Headed to Town


A fellow met his buddy walking down the road all dressed up and asked where he was going. He said New Orleans. Said I heard their is plenty of liquor, fast women and adult shows. His buddy ask why he was carrying his Bible. Well I thought I might stay over to Sunday and go to church. Harold Danley gave this illistration and wow, did he hit the nail on the head. Many live like the devil during the week and then go to church like they never did anything wrong.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Where Were you on 911? (9-11-2010)


Where were you, or what were you doing on Sept 11, 2001? That's just like the question you here, where were you when John Kennedy was shot or what were you doing when you heard Pearl Harbor was bombed. Well we can kind of set markers in our lives with historical events. In my life i can remember where I was when the moon landing occured, being stuck on the couch, before cable as a teenager all summer from an illness and the only thing on tv was the Watergate Hearings and soaps. I remember being in basic training when the Shah of Iran arrived for cancer treatments while his country had just come under control of Radical Islam. I remember where I was at when I heard the Columbia and Challenger incidents occured. How about Little Jessica stuck in a well. Or the first Star Trek the Next Generation Movie, or Black Monday. All of those occured on the same weekend of Oct 17, 1987. Oh and that was the weekend I got out of the Air Force. And a slew of other events that I remember that I could carry on for pages. But to the date at hand.


I had flown from Little Rock to Kansas City for a training class on a fire alarm panel, so we could be qualified to install it. That was on the 10th. On the 11th we were in class, I had 2 tickets to the KC Royals on the front row next to the dugout for 10$ each. Do the research and you will find I had one heck of a deal. Needless to say thatgame was canceled that night. But while in class the owner came in andannounced that 2 planes had struck the twin towers and the pentagon and it looked like it was intentional. He said we were gonna take a break because our companies were trying to contact us and also that the planes were being ordered to land and many of us were gonna have to scramble to make transportation arrangements. I remember checking the Internet and also knowing that the phones were working, I determined in my own mind it was a limited attack and not the full scale attack I had been looking for by Russia while I had been in the service. I also wandered about the Rapture. I spoke with my secretary and asked what she thought. She was a good Christian lady and said no this was not it. I had only gotten truly saved just a couple months earlier. Well we went back to class while my companie arrayed some transportation. The only thing we could do was for one of my coworkers to rent a vehicle and drive up that day so we could drive back on the 12th. My thoughts had also turned to my family. I told my daughter not to go to college that day cause I didn't want her in public places. It wasn't until I got out of class and to my hotel room that I realized just how big this was. One report had gas prices at some stations in KC at 6$ a gallon. To be honest, when they mentioned the Twin towers in class, I didn't know what they were talking about. The next morning my coworker and I set out for home. We listened to news on the radio all the way back to the Little rock airport about 3 in the afternoon. The only vehicle moving was a police car. I checked out my van and told the toll lady that it must have been interesting around there today. She said not really, that I was the first vehicle to check out all day. Ingot home to see my kids and the bf watching news. And they were asking me what I thought and what was gonna happen next. Inassured them life would go on, but wouldn't be the same.


Over 3000 precious souls stepped into eternity that day. Except for the terrorist, they all expected a different destination for their day. None of the expected to be standing before God on that day. The thing is we don't know when it is gonna happen. What a comfort for your family to know that you are in Heaven with Jesus and not in Hell in torment and agony. If you have not made a decision for Christ, do it today. If you need help, email or message me here. I had a young boy that was lime family to me that died in Iraq a few years ago. We had talked about his salvation and I was able to assure his parents of where he was. It was a major comfort to them. Don't leave people wandering. God bless those who died in this tragedy and there families.

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Born again at 40 in 2001, though I practiced Christianity since I was 13.