Bright, Beautiful, New & Helpful

12/19/2019

How quickly go the days! I realized this morning how long it had been since the last blog. (I’ve probably had multiple terrific ideas which have come to me and quickly fled away! No telling what all you’ve missed out on…good grief!) I shall not lament lost thoughts, let’s see if anything good can come from today’s mental gymnastics, ok?

My SIMH was a very good adaptation of an old poem, partly scriptural, partly melancholic and partly rock & roll song: “What A Beautiful Day It Is.” I found several songs with that or similar titles, but I never found the one I’ve had rolling around in my head. This usually means I’m forgetting a key word or the actual title is unrelated to that phrase. Hmm. Nevertheless, the tune and a few words remain —“what a beautiful, what a beautiful day it i-i-is oohaaa” (goes almost falsetto—anyone know what I’m hearing?)

So we’re in this 3rd day of a forced vacation from actually having a Blue Jug Market open. The forced departure from our previous location and the unfinished new location not coinciding has left us in an extended planning stage for what we’ll do when we can get into the new locale. That may be good for us. If you want to watch our progress in getting into the new, then getting the store open again, please follow our page on FaceBook: Blue Jug of Fort Payne. Might be fun! (And, it is going to be beautiful!)

A good friend just texted me and asked me if I actually meant it when I said 120 people saw Christ ascend into heaven. I answered if I said that it was a very bad assumption. He gave me the date and title of the sermon (from 2016). I answered back and said I was crazy most of 2016. He answered “Boy, we’ve never known that.” I think we’re still both laughing out loud about that. It is odd how many things can come out of our mouths wrong, especially things that no one catches right at the moment. I hope no one ever counts all these, but it would be interesting to know how many times I’ve done that—just make an off-handed comment without basis in actual Scripture. (shudder)

I’m really enjoying the Sunday evening (4pm Central) bible class. So far, we haven’t had a lot of new people come, though we don’t know all those who seem to either watch FB live or watch later on You Tube. I’d like more people to come to our house, I miss that kind of fellowship in a bible class. Maybe soon, maybe soon. Several local folks have indicated they wanted to, but have not yet. I’ll do my best to not bug them about it, yet make them know we still do it and we welcome them. That’s another aspect of wanting to keep the class open and alive with “new blood,” so to speak: we must strive to not be overbearing while giving the urgency of learning from the bible what the Lord wants us to know.

This week we will finish the Pivotal Points in God’s Plan message and then swerve into why the church does not go through the Great Tribulation. Hope you can join us one way or the other: If you can drive here for it, that would be wonderful; if you want to see it live you can catch me on FB (go to my wall) & it will stay on FB for a time; if you want live bigger screen, you may join us on Zoom—go to zoom.us/j/2103785748 at 4pmCentral and join the meeting. After Sunday evening, the message will be on You Tube channel Brother Jerry Lockhart or Jerry Lockhart, listed by date and title. 

In taking some of the time off to work on Blue Jug Alkaline Water and Health Market for 2020, we’re establishing a more complete startup grouping as we continue to work toward a future day (perhaps a year) when we can give a “turnkey” offering. We have a long way to go for that, yet we see the need to be bigger and better in what we now offer. Firstly, we desire it to include some other things than just our magnificent and complete water system, things which will complement and augment what needs the stores have when they open. I’m sure all existing stores would agree with this kind of change, a sort of step-up in our approach to help those who desire to be in business for themselves, but who might not understand what actually is compatible with selling the world’s greatest drinking water. “Water the way it’a meant to be” has companions which  are needed to produce “other things” the way they were meant to be, also. Air, for instance. More later about that.

As always, there is still more work to be done, more Bible study to be done, and more folks who come our way with whom to build a fellowship.

Thanks for reading, the Elder